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“hold tight,” he ordered 


ut'a 


7 




^HELEN 

and the Fifth Cousins ' 

The Adventure with Judith, the Hermit, 
and Some Other People 

^ By BETH BRADFORD GILCHRIST 

Author of “Helen Over-the-Wall,” 

“ Helen and the Uninvited Guests,” 

“ Helen and the Find-Out Club,” etc. 



Illustrated by 

ADA C WILLIAMSON 


THE PENN PUBLISHING 
COMPANY. PHILADELPHIA 
MCMXV 




COPYRIGHr 
1915 BY 
THE PENN 
PUBLISHING 


COMPANY ' 



Helen and the Fifth Cousins 


Introduction 


Helen Thayer is the kind of girl who is always 
having adventures. Every girl has them, more or 
less, and Helenas have strayed into print. There 
was the adventure with the fairy godmother who 

wasnT But those of you who have read 

‘‘ Helen Over-the-Wall ” know all about the fairy 
godmother and Helenas delightful summer at “ Red 
Top.^’ If you have read Helen and the Un- 
invited Guests,^^ you know what happened after 
Helen went home from “ Red Top ” and the Yellow 
Goggles Lady led the train of unbidden visitors 
that came to Helenas house. Then Helen tried to 
play fairy godmother herself and Maybe Anne 
arrived at the house across the street. When that 
happened, Helen and Gay Flint, Grace Howe, 
Estelle Lawrence, and the rest had to organize the 
Find-Out Club. You would be obliged to start a 
Find-Out Club yourself, if a Maybe Anne should 
come to live in your town. Anne initiated Judith 
French, who hadn^t even a maybe grandfather, 
but who was, for all that, the most cheerful of 
likable girls. Why Maybe Anne?, It is all ex- 
3 


INTRODUCTION 


plained in Helen and the Find-Out Club.” I 
shall have to ask you to look it up if you don^t 
know, because I can hear Helen and the other 
girls chattering just over a page or two and I 
really can’t keep them waiting. 


4 


Contents 


I. 

Wanted: a Secret . 

• 

, 

, 

9 

II. 

Defining a Family . 




24 

III. 

Enter the Hermit . 




40 

IV. 

Bearding the Lions . 




62 

V. 

A Stand and a Retreat . 




79 

VI. 

Afterward 




100 

VII. 

Saybrook vs. Racefield 




119 

VIII. 

A Game and What Came of It 



139 

IX. 

Not Exactly an Uncle 




154 

X. 

Breaking the News . 




170 

XL 

Fifth Cousins . 




181 

XII. 

Conspirators 




198 

XIII. 

Moving In ... 




224 

XIV. 

French, French & Company 




247 

XV. 

The Twins Make a Call . 




258 

XVI. 

The Hermit Again . 




279 

XVII. 

Judith Chooses . 




295 

XVIII. 

Helen Tries Her Hand . 





XIX. 

All’s Well that Ends Well 




330 


5 





Illustrations 


PAGE 

“ Hold Tight,” He Ordered . . . . Frontispiece 

“ I WAS Just Making Up A Story” . • • • 35 

‘‘ Get Out OF Here ! Go Away ! ” . . .81 

‘‘ We Can Make 'Em Work Hard ” . . . 146 

“ You're All Right ” 19 1 

The Twins Knew Her 262 

“He Couldn't Have Meant Me, Sir” . , . 300 


Helen and the Fifth Cousins 



Helen and the Fifth Cousins 


CHAPTER I 

WANTED : A SECKET 

The Find-Out Club stared at each other with 
mingled incredulity and consternation. 

Say that again, Helen.^^ Estelle Lawrence’s 
mournful eyes lifted a beseeching look to Helen’s. 
“ I didn’t quite get it.” 

Grace Howe adjusted her bracelet excitedly. 
** You’re crazy, Helen. Stark crazy.” 

Anne Alden interposed swiftly. ^-^She is not 
crazy. It is the truth.” 

‘‘ Worse luck I ” groaned Gay Flint. 

** What is the truth ? ” demanded Sally Rollins, 
her tie under one ear. You’ll have to say it 
again, Helen.” 

You may have to say it twenty times,” said 
Mary Tracy, before we get used to the idea.” 

I don’t want to get used to it, if it’s anything 
that is going to spoil F. O. C.” Grace stuck her 
fingers in her ears. I won’t listen.” 

We won’t let it spoil the Find-Out Club,” said 
9 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


Gay. So you might as well take your hands 
down, Gracie. You won't be able to help plan 
what to do if you don't listen. Now, Helen." 

** It just popped into my head," Helen cried. 

I didn't want to think of it, and it scares me just 
as much as it does the rest of you." 

Say it," commanded Gay relentlessly. 

I said, ‘ Why, we can't be the Find-Out Club 
any longer I ' " 

** And we can't." 

Anne's delicate face that had so lately learned 
lines of happiness paled under Gay's words. You 
said," she remonstrated, that we could be. You 
said so a minute ago." 

Gay waved a remorseless hand. That's not 
the point now. That's another point. The point 
now is to understand why we're not any longer 
the Find-Out Club." 

“ But we are I " Grace jumped to her feet. We 
are I I won't stop being. I refuse " 

** What is there left for us to find out ? " 

Grace collapsed like a punctured balloon under 
the point of Gay's question. The immaculate 
plaits of her skirt rumpled under her as she sank 
to the fiowered chintz of Anne's biggest chair. For 
once she had no thought of clothes. “ Why, why 
— that's so ! " she gasped. 

** It seems almost a pity," meditated Mary 
10 


WANTED: A SECRET 


Tracy, that we found Anne’s Aunt Alice. If we 
hadn’t, of course we might have gone on hunting 
— we might be hunting now.” 

** No I ” Anne’s voice was as positive as her 
chin. It is not a pity. I am glad you found 

her. Even if — even if ” The words stuck in 

her throat. 

I am glad, too,” cried Helen, slipping a ’com- 
forting arm around Anne’s waist. “ Even if we 
have to change the name of F. O. C.” 

'' It won’t be F. O. C. under another name,” 
mourned Grace. 

Anne’s eyes traveled wistfully over the group. 
I want you all to be glad I found Aunt Alice.” 

Sally pounced on Anne and hugged her. 
There wouldn’t have been any F. O. C. if it 
hadn’t been for you and your Aunt Alice.” 

** But now there is no F. O. C. because of me, 
and because I have found her.” 

There’s got to be an F. O. C.,” said Grace, 
even if we have to get another object.” 

Now you’re shouting ! ” 

Six heads turned toward Gay at the words. 
That young lady, sprawling in gentlemanly fash- 
ion on the hearth-rug, gathered herself more com- 
pactly together and sat up. Point number one. 
Is the object that F. O. C. was organized to effect 
now accomplished ? In other words, my friends, 
11 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 

is Anne Alden Dorinda Lewis ? Answer : Anne 
Alden is twins, so far as anybody is ever going to 
be able to prove. Quod emt demonstranduTUy by 
Mr. Lathrop and Mrs. Royce, assisted by the Find- 
Out Club in the person of its charter member, Miss 
Helen Thayer. Has anybody any objections to 
make to this statement ? ” 

“ I belong to grandfather,^^ insisted Anne. 

‘‘ It seems to cover the ground,’’ acknowledged 
Mary Tracy. 

Ergo, F. O. C. hasn’t anything left to find out, 
and what are we going to do about it? That’s 
point number two. Miss Howe has the fioor.” 

** You know I didn’t mean anything in particu- 
lar, Gay. If we changed the object, I suppose 
we’d have to change the name, and I tell you I’d 
hate to do that.” 

Why change the object? ” asked Mary Tracy. 

You know perfectly well, Spud, that 
Anne ” 

“ Yes, ‘^Gracie, but I rather like finding out 
things.” 

Oh, I see I ” cried Helen. We can find out 
something else, now that we have finished with 
Anne. I like that.” 

“ It suits me,” Estelle agreed good-naturedly. 
“ But what shall we find out ? ” 

Who, you mean,” chuckled Sally. 

12 


WANTED: A SECRET 


Not necessarily/^ interposed Gay. “ We must 
be careful now.” 

‘‘ I like wlios better than whats” Helen said. 

But won't that mean we shall have to take in an- 
other member ? ” 

“I think,” a bright spot glowed in each of 
Anne's cheeks, I think it would be lovely to find 
some people for Judith.” 

The soft determined words pushed their way 
through the clamor of tongues until Judith's name 
fell on silence. Then a shout rose. 

That's it I The very thing.” 

Oh, Anne, Anne I You darling I ” 

** 1 was just going to suggest it myself.” 

“ Judith's such a dandy. And she'll like to 
have ‘ folks.' ” 

“ Are you sure, Grace ? ” 

** What girl wouldn't. Spud ? ” 

Judith is odd, and she seems so crazy over that 

baby that she takes care of. But I think 

You're right, of course.” 

‘‘ Of course I am. Didn't you see her face in 
this room last week when we were all saying Anne 
had the best relatives in the world except ours and 
Judith didn't except anybody at first and then she 
said Johnny was the best ? I could have cried.” 

But she looked as cheerful as pie when she 
said it,” objected Sally. 


13 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


** That was why I wanted to cry/' explained 
Grace. I guess, Mary Tracy, if you had lived in 
an asylum most all your life and only come out of 
it to work for your living taking care of a baby 
that wasn't any relation to you all the time you 
weren't in school, you'd be glad to find some folks 
that belonged to you I " 

‘‘ It would depend on who they were," said 
Mary. ** I'd rather not know about 'em if they 
weren't nice." 

** I wouldn't," said Anne. “ I should want to 
know just the same whether they were nice or 
not." 

** But they might be horrid," expostulated Sally. 
** Thieves or tramps or — or 

Not if they were related to Judith," Gay cor- 
rected her. ** Catch Judith being cousin to a 
tramp I " 

“ We don't want a cousin, do we ? " Helen 
inquired. A cousin might not think he needed 
to do anything about Judith. He might let her 
be where she is." 

An uncle, I should think." Gay's tone was 
judicial. 

“ Why a man. Gay ? " ^ 

‘‘ It's got to be a man. Spud, if we can possibly 
make it a man." 

But why ? " 


14 


WANTED: A SECRET 


** Because a woman — a woman '' Gay cast 

about for words to frame the idea that was strug- 
gling in her usually ready mind. Well, a woman 
generally likes boys better and a man likes girls. 
And if a woman hasn^t much money and has a lot 
to do, she thinks more than a man does about 
whether she can afford a niece — some women do, I 
mean.” 

“ Judith^s people must have money,” said Grace 
decidedly. Don’t tell me, Gay Flint, you’d find 
anybody for Judith without money.” 

“ An uncle — with money ” Estelle tapped 

the points off on her fingers. ‘‘ And nice.” 

Awfully nice,” put in Sally. 

A bachelor ? ” 

Oh, no, Estelle, Judith loves big families. 
There must be a baby, too.” 

“ If he has a big family, Helen, he won’t have so 
much money to spend on Judith,” objected Grace. 

“ Judith won’t mind that, if there’s a baby for 
her to fuss over,” said Helen. 

“ If he has money enough, it won’t matter,” 
suggested Mary Tracy. 

Gay came out of the brown study she had been 
absorbed in. ** Make him a great-uncle,” she com- 
manded. “ If he was anything nearer I’m certain 
he couldn’t have been mislaid long enough for 
Judith to get into an orphan asylum.” 

15 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 

I know/^ cried Helen. He made his money 
in mines. He was making it while Judith was 
little and when her father and mother died he 
was away off in the mountains of Nevada or 
Oregon or somewhere like that and no mail ever 
got to him 

Like Anne^s aunt/' suggested Grace eagerly. 

Yes, exactly like Anne's aunt. So he never 
heard of his nephew's death until years afterward 
when he was a rich man and he came east to see 
him. Then he hunted and hunted, but all he 
could find was a record of his death. He was his 
favorite nephew, I think." Helen's eyes were 
shining now, she was absorbed in the joys of 
imagination. And he had always intended to 
make him his heir, the great-uncle had, I mean. 
He couldn't find his nephew's wife and child 
either, though in some roundabout way he heard 
a rumor that the wife was dead. He supposed the 
child must be dead, too. So at last after years of 
searching and worrying and following false clues 
that turned his hair from black to gray he gave it 
up and went back west and married a girl he had 
loved when a boy in the east and they have a big 
family — -something like three girls and four boys 
and a baby. They're living in the east now, in 
this very state, and he hasn't the slightest idea 
that the daughter of his favorite nephew is just 

i6 


WANTED: A SECRET 

hungering for his love almost on his very door- 
step/’ 

My goodness, Helen I Who is he ? How did 
you know it ? ” Grace was out of her chair now, 
hanging breathlessly over Helen’s. 

How did I know what ? ” A little discon- 
certed, very much surprised, Helen stared back at 
Grace. 

“ Who he is — where he lives — all you’ve been 
telling us ! ” 

With a whoop Gay stretched out flat and beat 
the hearth-rug with joyous hands. 

Helen blinked. “ Why, I — I — I don’t really 
know it, Grace. I was just making up a story 
about him, about how it might be, you know.” 

Furnish Gracie with his address, Helen.” It 
was a voice from the hearth-rug. She wants to 
call on him.” 

'' You mean, Helen Thayer,” Grace demanded, 
that you made all that string up out of your own 
head, without anything at all to go on? ” 

Helen began to feel both bewildered and 
ashamed. Why — why, yes,” she faltered. How 
could I have anything to go on ? ” 

Anne pulled Grace down beside her. I do 
not like stories very well. Not until they come 
true,” she added loyally, remembering the story 
in Helen’s fairy godmother letters to Fred and 

17 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


Emilie Parsons, the story that had brought about 
the discovery of her own aunt. Let us all sit 
down now and talk — facts. 

“ Right I ” approved Gay. '' F. 0. C. will please 
come to order. 

I want to say something else,’^ Anne hesitated, 
“ and I do not know quite how to say it.^^ 

Miss Alden has the floor,'' said Gay. 

Anne smiled on the faces turned to hers. “ You 
all called me * The Secret,' *' she explained. “ I 
think now that I ought to resign from being the 
Secret and let you elect Judith in my place." 

Good idea I " declared the president uncere- 
moniously. But you can't get out of having 
been a secret, Anne. There are Secrets and Past- 
Secrets. You'll be a P. S., that's all." 

The business was transacted without a dissent- 
ing vote. 

“ Now," declared Grace, I want to know how 
we are going to set to work to find Judith's 
family." 

The president yawned. Something will turn 
up. It did before." 

Is Helen going to write letters about Judith ? " 
Estelle inquired. 

'' Why, no, Estelle, I hadn't thought of it." 

Then I don't see how anything at all will be 
likely to happen." 

i8 


WANTED: A SECRET 


“ I move,” said Sally, that we do this diflPer- 
ently from the way we managed with Anne. I 
move we all get busy.” 

“ How ? ” asked Mary Tracy. 

“ Yes, how? ” they all queried. 

Six pairs of eyes turned on the president. 

Tell us how to get busy. Gay,” said Estelle. 

The long girl on the hearth-rug yawned again. 

That isn^t the way I’d do the thing, but I don’t 
know that it much matters.” 

“ It doesn’t,” said Helen, so long as we do it.” 

** Well, then, think,” Gay commanded. Every- 
body think hard for five minutes.” 

** What about?” 

About Judith’s relatives, Grace, and how to 
get at them.” 

Quiet fell on the room, an absorbed concentrated 
stillness. In the silence the seven girls thought 
according to their seven separate and distinct meth- 
ods of thinking. Gay lay on her stomach, abso- 
lutely still, her face hidden on her folded arms. 
Grace fidgeted with her bracelet, turning the blue 
stones round and round. Sally Rollins hugged 
her knees and rocked herself back and forth on her 
low seat by the fire. Mary Tracy eyed the wall- 
paper unseeingly, her hands quiet in her lap. 
Estelle, her face in repose more than ever like that 
of a dolorous Princess of Romance, sat mournfully 

19 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


lovely in a big chintz chair, looking too pretty to 
have an idea in her head. Helen scowled desper- 
ately at the lower left hand corner of the book- 
case. Anne looked at Helen, wistfulness, hope, 
and a certain funny fierceness blended in her ex- 
pression. 

There was nothing preposterous to any of the 
seven in the notion of what they wanted to do. 
Judith French had no known relatives. Judith 
would undoubtedly like to have somebody belong 
to her, Judith who had spent all her remembered 
life in an Orphans^ Home until she came to take 
care of Johnny.’^ The seven were in a mood to 
match missing relatives. Anne^s story had seen 
to that, Anne's story so lately happily consum- 
mated. Family reunions were in the air, so to 
speak. The fact that Anne's ** aunt " had dropped 
down from the blue was, they saw now, only what 
they had expected all along. Their elders might 
call it a miracle, but miracles are the stuff that life 
is made of at fifteen. It is odd when they don't 
happen. 

Time's up I " The president arose majestically. 
** Don't all speak at once." 

Nobody offered to dispute the floor with any 
one else. Grace giggled nervously. 

“ I do not know how to think," said Anne sor- 
rowfully. 


20 


WANTED: A SECRET 


Gay^s brown eyes brightened. “ No ideas to 
offer? Neither have I. 

Gay ! ” 

“ But what shall we do ? wailed Sally. 

'' I thought of something/’ said Helen. It isn’t 
very much. I was hoping the rest of you would 
suggest something better.” 

Anne’s small face glowed. ** I knew you would 
think of something.” 

It’s only to take the telephone book, and go 
through all the F’s and see who the people are 
whose name is French.” 

‘‘ I thought of advertising,” said Estelle. ** But 
then I remembered we wouldn’t know where to 
advertise and we couldn’t pay for notices in papers 
all over the country.” 

My idea,” Mary remarked, “ is to find out from 
Judith everything she can remember about the 
time before she went to the asylum.” 

^*She doesn’t remember anything,” Grace de- 
clared. 

We’ve never asked her particulars. I mean 
things like where she used to live and what her 
father’s full name was and her mother’s name. 
She must know such things as those. The asylum 
people probably knew and they would have told 
Judith.” 

** Good head I ” approved Gay. For people who 
21 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


will insist on stirring things up instead of letting 
them happen along of themselves, I must say you’re 
doing well. First on the program, interview 
Judith. Second, study telephone books and direct- 
ories. Advertise, if we can scrape together the 
cash.” 

“ But let’s be sure,” urged Grace, her fluffy hair 
quivering with the eagerness of her speech, ** let’s 
be sure, whatever we do, to find somebody who has 
plenty of money. Judith has had less than noth- 
ing so long it would be a shame to give her some 
poor relations.” 

Why, Grace,” Sally cried, when you’re poor 
or an asylum girl or something like that and you 
find your great-uncle, he’s always rich. He just 
has to be.” 

“ What would be the good of him if he weren’t ? ” 
put in Mary satirically. 

** Sometimes he isn’t any relative at all I ” cried 
Helen, coming abruptly out of a reverie. ** Some- 
times he’s a friend of your father or he’s the man 
who loved your mother when she was a girl — she 
didn’t love him, but he always loved her and he 
never married. If Judith’s great-uncle isn’t her 
great-uncle at all, but is that kind of man, how 
shall we ever know he’s the one if we see him ? ” 

They gazed at each other appalled. 

Gay rallied. “ That’s the kind of man who will 
22 


WANTED: A SECRET 


just have to happen along and introduce himself, 
the way I said. The great-uncle we can get to 
work on ourselves. Hurrah ! Now we’re all 
happy.” 

Grace smoothed her skirt complacently. 

Helen sprang to her feet. 

“ Where are you going ? ” 

To get the telephone book. Your grandfather 
won’t mind, will he, Anne ? Then we can begin 
now.” 


23 


CHAPTER II 


DEFINING A FAMILY 

Judith, her plain features irradiated by her un- 
quenchable smile, faced the excited group of girls 
in good-natured puzzlement. F. O. C. had de- 
scended upon her in the act of giving Johnny an 
airing and swept her off to Helen's house. Johnny 
was at the moment gurgling with joy over the 
attentions of the twins, who were only too glad of 
the chance to investigate his black-eyed chubbiness. 

Me ? " J udith demanded. Me a secret ? Why, 
there ain't — I mean there isn't — anything about 
me worth trying to find out." 

Grace took her by the arms and shook her. 

Yes, there is," she asserted. Don't say again 
that you're not a secret. You're the Secret, the 
great F. O. C. Secret. You're It. Now, do you 
understand ? " 

Judith's gray eyes twinkled at Grace affection- 
ately. Not the least bit in the world," she 
asserted blithely. ** I guess you think you're talk- 
ing to somebody else. Grade. That's what's the 
matter with you." 


24 


DEFINING A FAMILY 


** It can^t be the matter with all of us,” said 
Estelle. Now, can it ? ” 

Judith turned on Estelle a gaze of unqualified 
admiration. Say, you haven't got it, too, that 
secret bee I ” 

« We've all got it,” they told her, chorusing. 

Judith shook her head. Maybe, if you say so. 
You can't all be crazy. But I haven't, for sure.” 
You’re going to get it,” said Helen, 
guess I'm slow,” Judith confessed humbly. 

Little Anne emerged from the group and fronted 
her. Listen ! ” she ordered. I will tell you. 
And then you must help us. You must tell us all 
you remember. You would like to have some 
people of your very own, somebody belonging to 
you, not just Johnny ? ” 

I'm a lucky girl to have a little tyke like 
Johnny.” 

‘‘ I did not ask that. I asked, would you like 
relatives, real relatives, your very own ? '' 

Judith grinned cheerfully at Anne. ** Would I 
like the moon and a star or two, and like enough 
a piece of the sun ? ” 

Anne stamped her foot. 

There aren't any to have, so what's the use 
wishing? ” 

“ If there were some,” Anne persisted, would 
you like to know about them ? Would you ? ” 

25 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 

Judith^s face changed swiftly. A sudden 
hungriness burned up its jollity as in a flame. 
‘‘Just wouldn't I?" 

The others paled before that look, the hot desire 
of it. Only Anne stood Arm. 

“ We are going to find them for you. The Find- 
Out Club is going to find out about your relatives." 
Perfect confidence and unwavering determination 
looked out of Anne's small face. She nodded her 
head emphatically. “ If I had not come here to live 
with grandfather across the street from Helen, I 
should never have found Aunt Alice. I know it. 
The Find-Out Club made me its Secret. There is 
nothing more we can find out about me, and we 
have made you the Secret. Now, do you under- 
stand ? " 

Judith's freckles again dotted the wide expanse 
of her friendly smile. “ Say, but that's nice of 
you. Don't things come my way, though I Me, a 
secret. Me ! " She beamed on them. “ Makes 
me laugh to think of it." 

“ It isn't a joke," Sally told her. 

“Sure, it's no joke. I'm that proud I won't be 
able to walk home straight with Johnny." 

“ Everybody sit down," Gay commanded. 
“ Now tell us everything you remember about the 
time before you went to the asylum." 

Judith laughed. “ That's easy. I don't re- 
26 


DEFINING A FAMILT 


member a thing, not a thing. You don’t remem- 
ber much that happens before you’re a year and 
a half. I can tell you plenty about the asylum.” 

Gay shook her head. That won’t do us any 
good. Don’t you know where you used to live ? ” 

“ Oh, yes, I know that. The asylum folks told 
me. Funny little place. Took me more’n an 
hour to find it on the map. Westport, Maine. 
That’s where I was born. Makes me feel kind of 
cheerful every time I see that dot. Most every 
week I hunt it up just to say howdy do.” 

‘‘ The secretary will put it down,” ordered the 
president. Yes, Helen, that’s you. Paper and 
pencil, please. Westport, Maine. Your father’s 
full name, Judith.” 

Judith looked around on the intent faces. 
Importance and solemnity sat upon the brows of 
F. O. C. At the table the secretary-treasurer was 
spreading out a sheet of paper. 

You’re doing this in style, aren’t you ? ” 

You never know what facts you may need till 
you need ’em,” Gay observed. ** Ready, Helen ? 
All right. Your father’s name, Judith.” 

Judith sat up very straight. Raymond Liston 
French.” 

That’s a good name ! ” Grace cried. Did he 
have an uncle ” 

“ Who is conducting this examination ? ” The 
27 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


president scowled ferociously. ‘‘The chairman of 
the executive committee will please come to order 
and keep still. Your mother’s maiden name, 
Judith — the one she had before she was married.” 

“ White,” said Judith promptly. “ Melissa 
White. That’s a funny kind of name, Melissa.” 

“ I wish the other had been funny too,” Mary 
Tracy remarked. “ White is almost as common as 
Brown and Brown comes next to Smith.” 

“Oh, yes.” Helen’s pencil stopped moving. 
“ If only it had been something like Fotheringay 
or Montmorency or Warrington or Fortescue.” 

“ Hollingsworth would have been good,” Grace 
put in. 

“ Or Inglesby,” Sally cried. “ I saw that name 
in a book yesterday.” 

“ Well, it’s White,” said Estelle dispassionately. 
“ Let’s get on with Gay’s questions.” 

“ It isn’t that we don’t like your mother’s name, 
Judith,” Helen explained hastily. “ It’s only that 
we’re thinking about how easy it will be to find 
Whites everywhere. There are so many of them 
we won’t have any way to tell which might be re- 
lated to you.” 

“ We shall have to ask them whether they come 
from Westport, Maine.” 

“ Ask hundreds, Anne ? ” 

“ Ask till we find out, Spud.” 

28 


DEFINING A FAMILT 


Gay waved them to silence. 

‘‘ Did your father have any brothers, Judith? 

Judith shook her head. ‘‘ The asylum folks 
didnT ever hear of ^em, if he had ^em.^’ 

Any uncles ? 

The room held its breath. 

Not as I know of.^^ 

‘‘ But he might have had ? Helenas voice was 
beseeching. Excuse me, Gay. I mean, Judith, 
don't you think he might have had an uncle some- 
where, like Anne’s aunt, who didn’t get his mail 
regularly and never knew his nephew was sick or 
anything about his having died until months, 
maybe years afterward — who perhaps never 
knew ? ” 

“ The uncle might have been in Australia I ” 
Grace brought out the idea the minute it struck 
her. I was reading about a man in the morning 
paper. Nobody had heard of him for twenty 
years and suddenly he turned up rich. He'd been 
in Australia and he’d never written or sent home 
his address and his sister thought he was dead. 
But there he came one day walking in her front 
door with his pockets full of money and a bank 
account a mile long. Your father might have an 
uncle like that, Judith, — lots of people do, — and 
you’d never know it till he told you.” 

‘‘He’d advertise for you,” Sally explained, “or 
29 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


send the family lawyer to hunt for you, the way 
they do in English stories about lost American 
heirs/^ 

Judith beamed on them. YouVe got it all 
planned out fine I 

** If somebody came looking for her,^^ Grace 
ejaculated, “ it would help a lot ! 

We can’t count on it,” said Estelle. We 
can’t count on anybody but ourselves.” 

Don’t you think your father might have had 
an uncle, Judith?” Helen persisted. 

** He might, but I never heard of one.” 

“ Or your mother ? ” 

Judith shook her head. The matron at the 
Home told me they couldn’t find me any folks. 
They hunted when I was first put in.” 

Did they look in Westport ? ” Anne put the 
question. 

They wrote to the town clerk and he told ’em 
there wasn’t any Frenches or Whites left in West- 
port. Used to be a lot of ’em, he said, but some 
of ’em had died and some had moved away and 
he didn’t rightly know where they’d gone. 
Father’s and mother’s folks had died. I hadn’t 
any near kin, he wrote ’em.” 

Dejection settled on the room. Every word that 
had issued from Judith’s wide merry mouth buried 
a hope. 


30 


DEFINING A FAMILT 

** Come now, don^t take it like that ! Here IVe 
made you all feel bad/^ For once the pleasant 
grin had faded. I wouldn't have done that for 
a good deal. You're the best ever, setting your 
hearts on finding me some folks, and " 

“ We're going to." Anne's voice was packed 
with determination. Aren't we, Helen ? " 

The secretary-treasurer nodded like a mandarin. 

We don't know just how yet, but we're going 
to," she echoed bravely. 

“ There's one satisfaction," said Mary Tracy. 
** We needn't send any letters to Westport, Maine." 

Grace brightened. That will save us a good 
deal of time, won't it ? " 

Estelle spoke. ‘‘ The man in Westport said he 
didn't know where those people had gone. They 
may be anywhere. It seems to me that makes 
it easier for us. We can begin right here." 

‘‘ We’d have to begin here anyway," said Sally. 
“ We wouldn't know how to begin anywhere 
else." 

“There's a lot of difference," declared Gay, 
“between beginning where you have to because 
you have it, and doing it because it's as good a 
place as the next one. You've helped us a lot, 
Judith. You don't think of anything else we 
ought to know before we start, do you ? " 

Judith's twinkle was back in place now in her 

31 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 

steady gray eyes. '' Nothing I can tell you/’ she 
said. “ My, but you’re great girls I ” 

‘‘Wait till we’ve done something,” suggested 
Mary Tracy. 

“ Don’t get your hopes up too high,” Grace put 
in, “ if we tell you one thing right now. He’s 
going to have plenty of money.” 

“Who?” 

“ Your great-uncle.” 

Helen explained. “ We made him a great-uncle 
because we thought it would be easier to find a 
relation if we had somebody definite in mind.” 

“ Also easier to talk about,” said Mary. “ We’ve 
talked a good deal about him so far.” 

“ We haven’t named him.” 

“ How can we, Gay, when we don’t know what 
his first name really is ? ” 

“ To be sure,” said Gay cheerfully, “ we can’t. 
Would you like him best married or unmarried, 
Judith ? ” 

Judith’s glance roved from face to face. They 
were as sober, earnest, intent as ever. Even Gay’s 
brown eyes, despite the whimsicality of her speech, 
regarded Judith inquiringly. 

“I guess we’re playing at fairy stories. But if 
you could — could rub a lamp like that boy I was 
reading about yesterday and get me anything I 
wanted ” 


32 


DEFINING A FAMILT 


Yes, yes/’ they encouraged her. 

Judith drew a long breath. I’d take a 
baby ” 

Didn’t I say a baby ? ” breathed Helen. 

A baby the size of Johnny. Black hair and 
black eyes. He’s a pretty good pattern all through, 
Johnny is.” 

What else? ” 

Who else?” 

“ Now I don’t know what you’re talking 
about.” 

Who else do you want in your family?” 
Grace explained. 

Of course we might not be able to get them all 
for you,” Helen added hastily, but it might help 
to know what you’d like.” 

''Can I have any more?” Judith’s grin 
widened. " I must say you’re generous. Let 
me see now, the baby would need a father and 
mother, I guess. I don’t know much about fathers. 
Make him as good as you can. For a mother — 
well, Helen’s is about the right sort. She looks 
mother all over, Mrs. Thayer does. Makes you 
feel as if you’d got home, to come into a room 
where she is.” 

Helen wanted to rush across the floor and hug 
Judith, but she refrained, lest she break the spell. 

"Then there ought to be a little grandmother, 
33 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


if you're doing the thing up brown." Judith 
paused apologetically. 

“ Go on I Go on I " 

“ A little grandmother with white curls and a 
cap, sitting in a chair knitting. I've seen pictures 
of 'em in books. They always knit. And there's 
a kitten to play with the ball of yarn. Cute little 
spud I " 

Go on I" 

And lots of children." Judith brought out the 
words hungrily. ** Some twins, I guess, and a lit- 
tle tyke just getting into knee pants, and an- 
other that isn't sure of his feet yet. A few boys 
with hands and feet miles too big for 'em and al- 
ways getting in the way when you're looking at 
'em. I like boys." 

Wouldn't you have any girls? " Mary asked. 

I wouldn't throw 'em out if they came in 
the bunch. But I guess I'd get on better with- 
out 'em." 

I guess you would, too," said Gay. “ You and 
those boys would have fun, Judith." 

‘‘We'd make out to have a tolerably good 
time." 

“ Well, if I was picking out a family, I'd want 
some girls," Grace said positively. “ Boys are noisy, 
dirty, disturbing creatures in the house — that age 
you're talking about, Judith — and you can't do a 
34 





DEFINING A FAMILT 


thing with them. Girls you can tie hair-bows on 
and fuss with their clothes and have fun with them 
generally.” 

‘‘Twouldn't be any fun for me,” chuckled 
Judith. Me tying hair-bows! If I find any 
girls in that prize package, Vll send ^em over to 
you, Gracie.” 

I am afraid,” Anne^s face was troubled, I am 
afraid it will be hard to find so many boys in one 
family.” 

“ I know a family like that,” Gay said. ** Eight 
boys and one girl. Not here, though. And their 
name isn't French or White.” 

Even if we found one,” Mary suggested, ‘‘ it 
might not be related to Judith.” 

** And it might not be rich,” said Estelle. 

Would you mind very much, Judith,” Helen 
asked, ‘‘ if there weren't quite so many boys ? ” 

** Mind I ” echoed Judith. “ Not me. I was 
just making up a story out loud, like you, Helen.” 

“ You put in too many boys,” said Gay. 

** Sure, I put in too many boys. We'll take out 
half of 'em for luck.” 

Anne looked relieved. ** I am sure it will be 
luckier not to have quite so many.” 

‘‘Then that's settled,” cried Grace, jumping up 
cheerfully. This meeting has sat still long 
enough. Everybody going coasting to-night? I 
35 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 

must rush home now and study, or Mr. Staples 
will take my head off to-morrow.^’ 

F. O. C. in general shared Grace^s buoyancy. A 
pleasant sense of having begun to do something 
warmed the souls of its members. Accomplish- 
ment lay all in the future ; no tiresome practical 
strings had as yet been tied to fancy. Subject to 
the dictates of prudence, they were free to imagine 
for Judith the exact sort of family her tastes and 
theirs indicated. Localizing this dream on some 
small fraction of the earth^s surface would be a 
different matter, not so simple or so comfortable 
perhaps ; they knew this in the back of their heads, 
but they were not thinking about it now. That 
they might fail, in the nature of things could not 
occur to them. Not even sober-minded Anne or 
practical Estelle or humorous keen-witted Mary 
Tracy, not even Gay herself dreamed that they 
might fail to find somebody belonging to Judith if 
they put their minds on it and tried very hard and 
were not rebuffed by discouragements. Gay, in- 
deed, was inclined to advocate letting the discovery 
come of itself, but her expectation of final success 
was identical with that of the others. Only Judith 
herself took the matter sceptically. She paused by 
the table where Mrs. Thayer sat darning stockings. 
“They^re awful nice girls, Judith observed. 
Mrs. Thayer smiled. They are nice.” 

36 


DEFINING A FAMILY 


Judith pulled up a low seat and dropped on it. 

What do you think they’ve gone and done now ? 
Planned to find me a family. Asked me what 
kind Pd like, they did. Wanted to know the 
ages of the children. Let me fit myself out with 
relatives enough to stock a town. Only they said 
maybe they wouldn’t be able to get quite all of ’em 
to say ^ Present ’ when the roll’s called. Yes, they 
warned me. Anne spoke up first, that little Anne 
Alden. It worried her to have me choose so many 
boys. She thought I might not get ’em all. 
Didn’t want me to be disappointed. I thought it 
was a joke at first and I played the game with the 
rest of ’em. I guess I ain’t used enough to their 
sort.” Judith’s face was grave now, painfully 
sober. Tell me, Mrs. Thayer, what’ll I do ? I 
wouldn’t have those girls disappointed for any- 
thing, not for anything, and they’re going to get 
an awful jolt. They’re so dead set on finding me 
some folks.” 

“ And you, Judith ? ” 

Me ? Why, I ain’t — I mean I’m not expect- 
ing anything. I haven’t any folks. I guess I’d 
have heard of ’em before now if there’d been any 
to have.” 

Mrs. Thayer laid the stocking in her lap and 
gazed thoughtfully out of the window. Judith 
watched her eagerly. ^ 


37 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


Mrs. Royce^s coming seems to have gone to the 
girls* heads/* she said finally. 

Judith nodded. That*s just it. They*re 
plumb crazy.** 

I think you will simply have to let them be 
crazy for a while, Judith. There are too many 
fairly sensible heads among them for the girls to 
take any action that is very silly, I fancy.** 

** That isn*t what scares me. It*s the jolt they*re 
going to get in the end.** 

“ People have to meet jolts. You know that, 
Judith.** Mrs. Thayer*s eyes were very kindly. 

** But I*m used to *em. I expect *em, more or 
less, and I*ve got so they kind of brace me up. 
You do brace up to meet a jolt, you know.** 

** That is what the other girls must learn.** 

** I hate to see *em do it, though.** 

'‘We all hate it. Some of us hate it so much 
that we try to smooth out all the rough places, 
so there shall be no jolts. I used to, years ago. 
Then I learned that I couldn*t smooth them all 
out and that I shouldn*t be a good mother if I 
tried too hard to make everything easy for my 
children.** 

" My,** said Judith, " if I had a mother like you 
I*d think I was living in heaven, walking round 
on golden streets ! There wouldn*t be any jolts 
then.** 


38 


DEFINING A FAMILY 


Mrs. Thayer smiled at the girl. “ You would 
find a few, J udith. Helen does. Enough to make 
her amount to something, I hope, when she grows 
up.*^ 

Then you think, Mrs. Thayer, IVe just got to 
sit tight and watch ^em ? 

“ I think if there is disappointment in store 
for the girls, they must meet it. You know the 
world better than they do, Judith. On the whole, 
what do you think of it? 

** I like it,” said Judith. It’s great to be alive 
and to find out things. There’s such a lot of folks, 
and they’re all different. First rate, too. Yes, I 
like it.” 

Mrs. Thayer leaned over and kissed her softly. 

Come in as often as you can, Judith. It is a 
pleasure to have you.” 

Dizzy with happiness, Judith drew Johnny 
home. ‘‘ She kissed me ! Helen’s mother kissed 
me ! ” Over and over the words said themselves 
in her heart. Bewildered, beatified, the girl found 
her way automatically through the familiar streets. 

“ My, Johnny,” so she addressed the baby on his 
own door-step, don't everything just come my 
way, though I ” 


39 


CHAPTER III 


ENTER THE HERMIT 

The hill was gay with coasters. Between the 
two lines of sturdily climbing houses long dark 
streaks fled down like the wind. Here and there 
a house, two or three it might be, was missing. 
The gaps showed glitteringly white under the 
moon. Shouts and laughter enwrapped the hill ; 
deep rough boy voices, high sweetly shrill notes 
of girls. Groups toiling upward paused to watch 
heavily loaded double runners skimming down, to 
yell approval and greeting to the coasters, to bandy 
jokes with fellow toilers. Little boys with small 
sleds dodged about, looking for a chance to cast 
themselves down when no double rippers were 
following close at hand. Big boys lorded it over 
the course, shouting to the small fry to get out of 
the way. Where cross streets intersected the hill, 
scouts waited to give warning of approaching teams. 
And under all, yet faintly dominant, sounded the 
hum of steel as the runners skimmed over the 
snow. 

Helen, coming out with Harry Dolan at the top 
of the hill, felt the skip getting into her toes. 

40 


ENTER THE HERMIT 


Oh, Harry, let^s wait just one minute,” she 
cried, “ and watch them.” 

He loitered obediently. What^s the matter 
with getting into the procession ? ” 

She teetered up and down excitedly. ** When 
we get in, I won’t want ever to get out. And 
before we get in we can see what fun they’re all 
having.” 

We can see that fast enough while we’re 
coasting.” 

** No, we can’t. We’ll be having so much fun 
ourselves we can’t stop to notice it.” 

Harry grinned at her. You’re a queer girl, 
Helen.” 

I’m not queer.” 

“ Yes, you are. You’re always saying queer 
things.” 

What I said is true,” she retorted. You wait 
and see.” 

Then Anne and George Gray caught up with 
them, flanked by Sally Rollins and Jim Canney, 
Grace Howe and Philip Knowles, and the eight 
swept on to the starting-point. The four boys 
were partners in the best double-ripper on the hill, 
a fact which did not detract in the least from the 
girls’ enjoyment. It was pleasant to hear the ad- 
miring comments that rose on all sides as the sled 
was brought into position. It was a new one and 

41 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


had been tried out only that afternoon. “ She^s a 
daisy,” Harry had confided to Helen when he 
bespoke her company. The ‘‘ daisy’s ” appearance 
had, it was evident, been awaited with some im- 
patience by the knowing. Other groups good- 
naturedly hung back and gave Harry’s party the 
right of way. Plainly there was a good deal of 
curiosity as to how she could go.” 

Helen felt very conspicuous and a little shy at 
the center of so much interest. She wished that 
she had had something very festive to wear, like 
Grace, for instance. Grace in an orange and white 
hood, with a muffler to match, looked as trim and 
elegant and sporty as the double-ripper itself. 
Then Helen reflected that, after all, it was the sled 
everybody was interested in and not the clothes of 
the girls who rode on it. The thought helped her 
to take the place Harry indicated without undue 
awkwardness. 

Hold tight,” he ordered. 

** All right,” came back the word. ** Ready I ” 
Let her go ! ” 

Harry flung himself on behind Helen. 

The crowded ranks of watchers on either side 
began to move gently ; one by one faces slipped 
by. The runners dipped into the grade ; the faces 
mixed, mingled, blurred to a confused streak. 
From somewhere in the rear a cheer rose, and on 
42 


ENTER THE HERMIT 


its sharp bark Helen slid off the earth. This was 
flying, sheer flying, the wind in her face, shutting 
her eyes, whistling in her ears. She clove the 
wind as a swimmer breasts the sea ; it divided and 
fled away behind her with its high clear singing. 
She lost count of time, of space, of things before 
and things behind. She was flying, flying faster, 
flying till there was no fast or faster — till she 
seemed to swing stationary in space and all the 
universe roared past her with the speed of light. 

Slowly, awkwardly enough, benumbed and a 
little dazed, she came back to earth. The air was 
still, painfully still, around her. From very far 
away a thin sound cut the silence. Figures shot 
up like jumping-jacks in front of her. 

Grace, shaking out her skirts, was talking as 
usual. “HavenT we broken the record, Phil? 
Look how far weVe come I They Ve cheering up 
on the hill. I must say it doesnT sound very loud 
down here. Helen, aren’t you going to get up to^ 
night f ” 

Helen rose unsteadily to her feet. It seemed to 
be the thing to do. 

Like it ? ” asked Harry. 

‘‘ It was — wonderful. I thought I was flying.” 

“ We were going some,” said Phil Knowles. 

How fast were we going ? ” Anne asked. 

Forty miles an hour, part of the time.” 

43 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


Anne turned and looked up the way they had 
come. Let us go back and do it again. 

George Gray nodded approval. You’re game.” 

The boys drawing the double-runner, the girls 
chattering like magpies, they toiled slowly up the 
hill they had descended so swiftly. Now and then 
they paused to watch coasters whizzing past, to 
peer downward and see where they stopped. 

“ Nobody can beat us,” Grace exulted. 

I could keep it up forever,” said Sally. 

Doesn’t it make you feel like a bird, Anne, to go 
swooping down this splendid hill ? ” 

If that is the way a bird feels, I think I should 
like to be one sometimes,” Anne answered quaintly. 

‘‘Well, I’d like to be one right now and fly up 
as easily as I flew down,” cried Grace. “ The only 
trouble with sliding down-hill is walking back 
afterward.” 

“ And the farther you go, the longer your walk 
is,” Helen added. “ But I don’t mind walking, 
it’s so different. Only until just now something 
has been the matter with my legs. I couldn’t seem 
to make them go right.” 

“ Stiff? ” Harry grinned. 

“A little.” 

“ It’s like when you ride a long while,” said 
Sally. “ You feel like keeping on just the way 
you were.” 


44 


ENTER THE HERMIT 


‘‘ What are you talking about ? ’’ Grace^s voice 
was peremptory. We weren't long going down 
that hill." 

“ No, but it was a long way to go." 

A general laugh rose at Helen’s words. 

** I speak for the front seat this time," said Sally. 

The one behind the steersman." 

That’s fair enough," agreed Grace. We’ll all 
take turns." 

I wish I could steer ! " Helen said the words 
so low that only Harry Dolan caught them. 

We’ll come out here some afternoon when 
there isn’t such a crowd, and I’ll teach you." 

Oh, will you ? " 

Sure. It isn’t so much of a trick, after all." 

‘‘ I’d like," Helen explained, to see how it 
would feel to whiz down that hill with nobody in 
front of me, nothing but air and snow. I think 
I’d feel more like a bird than ever." 

I don’t see," Grace’s voice was chirping, “ how 
you boys keep your eyes open. I shut mine tight 
the minute we got fairly going. I couldn’t help 
it." 

I did not," said Anne. I thought I might 
miss something." 

Oh, hurry up, hurry up I ’’ Sally adjured them. 

Don’t be such slow-pokes. Hurry up and let’s 
do it again." 


45 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


They did it again, and again, and again, until 
their brains were dizzy with shooting through 
space and their legs were weary with toiling up- 
hill. But their spirits continued to go zestfully. 
The moon climbed higher and higher and the 
crowd gradually grew thinner and thinner until 
when the best coasting of the evening had arrived, 
the girls announced it must be time to go home. 

'^Mother said ten o'clock,'^ Helen remarked. 

Isn’t it nearly that? ” 

Jim Canney pulled out his watch. ** Half-past." 

** Oh, my goodness ! " said Helen. 

“Just once more," teased the boys. 

Grace shook her head positively. “ We’d never 
want to stop, no matter what time it was. Be- 
sides, my mother said ten o’clock too. But we’ll 
come again if you ask us." 

“ It is queer," meditated Anne, as they turned 
from the enticing hill, “ how much quicker ten 
o’clock comes some nights than other nights." 

“ Shows what kind of time we’ve had." Sally 
tugged at the muffler that had knotted itself in- 
explicably at the back of her neck. “ What’s 
wrong with this thing, Grace ? " 

Grace lent a hand with the muffler and added a 
stage whisper. “ Your hair’s coming down." 

“Good reason why. All my hairpins have 

shelled out. I can feel one of ’em squirming down 
46 


ENTER THE HERMIT 


my back now.’’ Hastily sweeping up the escaping 
locks in one hand, Sally thrust them under her 
gray cap, pulling it down further over her ears. 

Immaculate Grace, almost as tidy now as at the 
beginning of the evening, proffered a couple of 
pins. 

No, thanks. I’d only lose ’em if I took ’em. 
Besides, what’s the dif ? It’s dark, and I’m going 
home.” 

Helen, contentedly walking beside Harry Dolan, 
came back at the end of the evening to the subject 
that in these days was seldom long absent from 
her thoughts. She wondered whether Judith had 
ever coasted down-hill in her life. Did people 
coast who were brought up in asylums? Even 
now it would not be too late for the experience, 
could Judith only find her “folks.” Johnny’s 
mother liked to have Judith in the house as much 
as possible evenings. Johnny’s mother seemed to 
be herself a person who went out a good deal. 
The combination appeared to preclude coasting, 
for the present at least, even if the boys had cared 
to ask Judith. Boys were queer, Helen reflected. 
She could not imagine one of them asking Judith 
to go coasting, outside that big family of boys 
Judith had been talking about this afternoon. 
They would want to take her all the time ; she 
would be another boy to them and would go along 
47 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


as a matter of course. Yet the boys, Harry and 
George and Jim, liked Judith ; not in the same 
way that they liked Grace and Sally and Estelle, 
but they liked her. Everybody, even Mr. Staples, 
liked Judith. At the end of her happy evening 
Helen felt more strongly than ever that Judith's 
folks " must be found. 

Do you know of any people in town named 
French, Harry ? ” she asked. 

“ French ? Never heard of 'em." 

‘‘ There aren't any Frenches in the telephone 
book or in the directory," she explained. I just 
wondered whether there might be some who had 
moved here very lately or whose name had been 
left out, or something like that. They put every- 
body in the directory, don't they?" 

Try to, I suppose," said Harry. ‘‘ What do 
you want to know for ? " 

It isn't the commonest kind of name. I 
thought — oh, I thought it would be interesting to 
find out." 

“I wonder what you girls have got up your 
sleeves now. I heard Grace asking Knowles that 
very same thing to-night." 

“ Did she? We — we were talking about it 
the other day. About names, I mean. French 
is a little bit unusual, more so than White, for 
instance." 


48 


ENTER THE HERMIT 


Harry chuckled. When Phil couldn^t lay 
claim to personal acquaintance with anybody 
named French, Grace tackled him on White. Did 
he know where Jack White used to live before he 
lived here? Where did his people come from? 
Knowles told her it might have been Patagonia 
for all he cared. She stuck to it and quizzed him 
on every White in town, I guess, before she let up. 
I heard ^em going it for quite a while. Say, Helen, 
what do you want to know for ? 

Can^t people like to know things without hav- 
ing reasons ? 

Not your bunch. IPs fair enough to swap.^' 

‘‘Swap what? You haven't told me anything 
yet." 

“ I've backed up the directory. That ought to 
be worth something." 

Helen shook her head. 

“ I'll bet you Hello, I do know something I 

Forgot all about it. Bet Knowles did, too." 

“ Do you mean you have thought of a family 
named French ? " 

Harry chuckled. “ Not a family exactly." 

“ Tell me." 

“What'll you tell me?" 

“ Oh, Harry, please don't bargain." 

“ A fellow wants to get something out of his in- 
formation." 


49 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 

But I — I can^t tell you anything yet, and I do 
want to know dreadfully/^ 

** F. O. C. mixed up in it ? ” 

Yes/^ 

I thought so. Well, there's an old fellow 
named French, queer kind of codger, I guess, lives 
just across the town line in Maywood. You know 
that big house set back among a lot of trees on the 
right side of the road after you pass Kirk's spring ? 
That's it." 

‘‘ The place with the stone wall and lions at the 
gate ? " 

“ Lions, are they ? I took 'em for dogs." 

“ I didn't know anybody lived there." 

“ This old chap does. He's a hermit." 

Honestly — a hermit f " 

Sure thing. I'm not stuffing you. Father 
told me his name once when we were out May- 
wood way. Father sold the fellow the place 
twenty years ago. It had been put in his hands 
to sell, you understand. From the day the man 
moved in he's never been off the place, Dad says. 
He has some kind of arrangement with one of the 
grocery stores to keep him in stuff to eat. Never 
uses meat. All the work that's done about the 
place he does himself. Grass grows knee high 
from the road to the pillars of the front porch. 
Some of us fellows sneaked in one night to see 
50 


ENTER THE HERMIT 


what we could see. It wasn't much. Old French 
goes to bed with the chickens, father says, and gets 
up with the sun. He's been shut up so long in 
that house most folks have forgotten he's there." 

“ Doesn't he keep any servants?" 

Not a one. Something soured him on the 
world and he slammed the door in its face. That's 
Dad's version. Made quite a stir when he first 
came, they say. People used to drive out that 
road just to see the place. They never saw any- 
thing more." 

He must have money," breathed Helen. 

Sure. Oodles of it, hidden in his bedstead or 
in a hole in the floor." 

“ Perhaps it's in the bank." 

“Have it anywhere you like. The postman 
goes by, but never stops. There's a broken-topped 
box inside the front gate. For checks, most 
likely," Harry laughed. 

“ Hermits always have money. Doesn't your 
father think so ? " 

“ He discounted my bedstead theory, but said 
the old fellow had cash enough. Paid cash down 
for his house." 

Helen's eyes were shining in the moonlight. 

“ Oh, Harry, I can't ever thank you enough for 
telling me." 

“ You might let me in on the inside track." 

51 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


I will, just as soon as I can. As soon as we’re 
sure of anything.” 

My, but you’re mysterious I ” 

You have to be sometimes. I’ve had a lovely 
time. Thank you again for — you know what.” 

From her own threshold Helen watched the 
door across the street open and shut, watched 
Harry and George swing back up the street. She 
had not dared even to hint to Anne of the great 
discovery, lest George overhear and question. 
Harry she felt sure of ; George’s discretion was as 
yet untried. ** And boys can gossip worse than 
any girls when they get started,” she soliloquized. 
‘‘ But how shall I ever wait all night to tell Anne ? ” 
Then her mother opened the door and Helen 
was in the house, words fairly tripping each other 
to fall off her tongue. We didn’t mean to be 
late, mother. The clock played a trick on us and 
it was half-past ten before we knew it. Oh, I’ve 
had such a good time I I don’t believe I ever had 
a better time in my life, and what do you think ? 
I’ve got a clue to Judith’s relatives. I truly have. 
I’m sure it can’t be wrong. Harry told me. It’s 
a clue to only one relative, but that’s better than 
none. And he’s rich, stupendously rich. Oh, 
mother, I’m so excited ! But I didn’t get a 

chance to tell Anne. I ” 

Nell, dear ! ” Mrs. Thayer’s hand fell softly on 
52 


ENTER THE HERMIT 


her daughter's arm. You won^t sleep a wink to- 
night if you go on like this.^^ 

Oh, I know it. But I shan’t sleep anyway. I 
feel all stirred up inside. And the ideas keep going 
round and round in my head after what Harry 
told me. Oh, mother, it's just like a story-book I ” 
Suppose you tell me to-morrow.” 

Helen sighed. You’re terribly sensible, mother. 
You want me to go to sleep and wake up fresh and 
ready for school.” She made a funny little 
grimace. 

Her mother laughed. I certainly do, Nell. 
You see I have known you, little daughter, for 
several years.” 

And you think, if I don’t talk about it to- 
night, I shall stop thinking about it and go to 
sleep. But I shan’t.” 

<< Try it and see.” 

“ Oh, I’ll try it, but I’m crazy to tell you right 
now.” 

Helen did go to sleep. Her lungs were so full 
of fresh air and her muscles so weary with exercise 
that in the middle of wondering how she should 
ever manage to lie still through the long night, a 
curtain descended abruptly upon her thoughts and 
presto ! the night was gone. It is very surprising 
how such things happen. 

Anne was as excited as Helen, when Helen told 
53 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 

her. When they both proceeded to tell the rest of 
F. 0. C., the whole seven acted like a company of 
grasshoppers on a gridiron. After the jumping 
and exclaiming and embracing had relieved the 
first fizz of spirits, nobody showed surprise. The 
truth, of course, was that nobody was surprised. 
It was only to be expected, when F. O. C. really 
took a thing in hand, that something should hap- 
pen. The surprising event would have been if it 
hadnT happened. 

“ Finding relatives is really very easy,^^ Grace 
observed complacently. 

** We must make sure he is the right one,^^ Gay 
interjected cautiously. 

** Oh, of course,^^ said Grace. 

** I am afraid Judith will be disappointed about 
the baby,*’ suggested Anne. 

And the boys,” Estelle added. 

** There may be some boys.” Helen was always 
ready with a suggestion. Perhaps a baby, too. 
He may have a sister somewhere who has a big 
family. A sister or a brother, perhaps more than 
one. Hermits often do.” 

** Oh, yes,” said Grace. “ And when he finds 
out all about Judith he will stop being a hermit. 
Judith will go to live with him in that big house. 
I don’t believe it would be a bit bad looking if it 
was painted and the grass cut.” 

54 


ENTER THE HERMIT 


** It's rather far away,” Sally began. 

** I expect he will give her an automobile, a lit- 
tle car she can run herself.” 

“ Grace I ” 

Why not? His money must have been just 
piling up these years, he has used it so little.” 

“ But it can't have piled up. Grade, if he keeps 
it in his mattress.” 

Pooh, Gay ! People don't do that kind of 
thing much in these days of banks, not even her- 
mits.” 

“ You read in the papers about their doing it.” 

** Our hermit isn't that sort.” 

Well, first,” said Estelle practically, “ we've got 
to find out whether he really is our hermit. I 
mean, whether he is related to Judith at all.” 

He's ours, fast enough,” Grace asserted glibly. 

He bought the house twenty years ago, didn't 
he?” 

** We don't know one single thing about him,” 
Mary Tracy objected. “We only imagine he is re- 
lated to Judith.” 

“ But it all fits, Spud. Don't you see how it 
fits ? ” Helen cried. 

“ What we want to know,” Gay declared, “ is 
whether he hails from Westport, Maine.” 

“ Or any of his people,” Estelle added. 

“ Righto I Now how are we going to find out ? ” 
55 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


The girls looked at each other thoughtfully. 
Anne broke the silence. 

We must ask him.^' 

'' By mail, Anne? 

** He — he might not answer us by mail.” 

You’re right there,” Grace cried. He might 
not pay any attention to a letter, even if there is a 
broken down old mail-box inside his gate.” 

“ Goodness,” Sally exclaimed, “ you don’t mean, 
Anne, that we shall have to go and see him our- 
selves ! ” 

‘‘ I think some of us ought to go. Is there any 
other way ? ” 

Into six pairs of eyes entered startled wonder. 
Here and there wonder changed to reluctant antic- 
ipation, to fearful eagerness. F. O. C. sat in awed 
silence before the daring of Anne’s proposition. 

‘‘Shall we take Judith?” questioned Sally at 
last. 

“ No.” Gay’s command was firm. “ We won’t 
take Judith and we won’t tell her anything about 
this hermit till we’re sure. Neither will we tell 
any one else.” 

“ Nobody ? ” gasped Helen. “ Not even our 
mothers? ” 

“ Not even our mothers. A story might get out, 
and you know how stories spread. It isn’t fair to 
tell a soul till we know what we’re talking about.” 

56 


ENTER THE HERMIT 

“ Then somebody go quick ! '' Grace cried. I 
can’t see J udith every day in school and not boil 
over soon.” 

'' Who would dare to go ? ” Estelle queried. 
“ I’d be scared to death.” 

** It isn’t a question of who dares,” Gay declared. 

It’s a question of who will have the most weight 
with the hermit. We can’t expect him to jump at 
the thought of finding a new relative now, when 
for twenty years he has tried to keep away from 
his old ones.” 

He ought to jump at the idea,” Grace declared. 

My goodness, think of living all sole alone for 
twenty years I ” 

And think of all Judith is going to do for him,” 
Sally added. “ He ought to go down on his knees 
and thank us for telling him about her, but I sup- 
pose he won’t.” 

They never do that till afterward,” Gay re- 
minded her. 

I hope Judith will like him,” Mary said 
dubiously. 

How do you suppose he looks ? ” Estelle 
queried. 

Hairy,” said Gay promptly, “like John the 
Baptist, with his locusts and wild honey. Long 
hair and a beard reaching down to his boots.” 

“ Gay ! ” 


57 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


To his waist anyhow. Hermits never are 
tidy.” 

Do you think we would really better go on 
with him if he’s like that ? ” 

Why not, Estelle? ” 

Would you like to have a relative like that, 
Gay?” 

Can’t say I’d welcome him with open arms.” 

Well, then. What about Judith ? ” 

Oh, he’ll change,” two or three eager voices in- 
formed Estelle. *‘They always do. Judith is all 
he needs to change him.” 

“ Haven’t you read anything in your life, Stella ? ” 
Gay demanded severely. ‘‘The minute he sets 
his eyes on Judith and understands she is his fa- 
vorite nephew’s orphaned daughter, he’ll run for a 
razor. Enter, a reformed character. ” 

“ Finding Judith is going to do him almost as 
much good as it does Judith, isn’t it?” observed 
Helen. 

“ I’m not interested in doing him good,” Estelle 
announced. 

“ Well, I think it would be grand,” Grace coun- 
tered. “ Poor man I He must be terribly lonely.” 

“ He wants to be lonely, doesn’t he? ” 

“ What if he does, Stella ? It isn’t good for 
him.” 

“Just the same,” said Estelle, “I think, if he 
58 


ENTER THE HERMIT 


doesn’t turn out well, that Judith ought not to be 
obliged to have him for an uncle.” 

Time enough to bother about that,” Gay inter- 
posed briskly, “ when he hasn’t reformed. I ex- 
pect he’ll make a perfectly glorious relative. He 
is going to be so crazy over Judith he’ll lie awake 
nights thinking up nice things to do for her. The 
point is, who’s going to tell him about her ? ” 

Why don’t we all go? ” 

“ Seven is too many, Grace.” 

Don’t send anybody alone,” Mary begged. 

Two won’t be half so scared as one.” 

Pooh I ” said Grace, you talk as though he 
was going to bite our heads off. Now I don’t be- 
lieve he’d do anything of the sort.” 

*^He may be a little awkward, just at first,” 
Sally suggested. It’s so long since he has talked 
with people.” 

Somebody must go who will put him at his 
ease,” Grace asserted. 

That lets me out.” 

I don’t know about that, Sally,” Mary re- 
marked, but I think Estelle ought to be one of 
the two. Nobody could look at Estelle without 
giving her everything she asked for.” 

‘a? Oh, I couldn’t 1 ” 

“ Why couldn’t you ? ” 

I’d be too scared to open my mouth.” 

59 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 

‘‘ You mean you think you^d 

“ I know so, Mary/^ 

** But that^s nonsense. You 

** Grade wouldn't run out of language," inter- 
posed Gay. All in favor of Grace and Estelle as 

F. O. C.'s representatives " 

I won't go one step. Gay, without the rest of 
you." 

Why not all go together as far as the spring ? " 

** Good idea, Helen." The president waved a 
rising murmur to silence. ** F. O. C. will proceed 
in a body to Kirk's spring. From that point the 
skirmish line — to wit. Miss Howe and Miss Law- 
rence — will advance upon the enemy." 

‘‘You will have to come too. Gay," declared 
Estelle, “or I won't go one step further than 
Kirk's spring." 

“ All right. I don't mind. In fact, I'd have 
rather hated to miss being in at the death." 

A delicious thrill of adventure prickled the 
girls' spines. 

“ When ? " demanded two or three voices. 
“ When are we going ? " 

“ The first pleasant day," decreed the presiding 
general. 

“ Oh, I know. On snow-shoes." 

“ That depends. Spud, on the weather." 

“ If we don't go soon," Estelle said, her tone 
6o 


ENTER THE HERMIT 


matching her face for once, I shall die of fright 
before we get started/^ 

‘‘ Who's afraid ? " chattered Grace. I think 
it's going to be awfully thrilling." 

Gay laid her finger on her lips. Not a word. 
Not a word to a living soul until the hermit is un- 
masked." 


6i 


CHAPTER IV 


BEARDING THE LIONS 

Three nights F. O. C. went to bed wondering, 
Will it be to-morrow ? Three mornings they rose, 
questioning, Is it to-day ? For three days a tense 
absent-minded expectancy possessed them. Wher^ 
ever two or three were to be seen in company, 
there heads were laid close together and tongues 
wagged mightily. Whenever a girl not of the 
mystic seven approached one of these small groups, 
whenever Judith herself approached, the brisk 
tongues fell strangely silent or faltered into awk- 
ward generalities. 

Some time or other during the three days each 
of the seven took Judith apart and spoke myste- 
riously. We can’t tell you just yet what we are 
talking about, but oh, Judith I ” Here an ecstatic 
pause. ^‘Oh, Judith, it’s coming out beautifully — 
you know what ! If we shouldn’t be able to manage 
the boys, just at first, you wouldn’t mind terribly, 
would you ? ” 

Judith assured each one that she wouldn’t mind 
a bit. If they thought things were lovely, she 
guessed they must be. 


62 


BEARDING THE LIONS 

And well tell you the very first minute we 
can/’ Thus confidences always ended. 

I wonder,” mused Judith, what those girls 
have got in their heads now I ” and went on her 
busy daily round with less perturbation than her 
fellow members of F. O. C. would have thought 
desirable, had they known it. 

“Judith’s fairly jumping out of her skin with 
curiosity,” Grace confided to Estelle. “ I hope the 
weather will clear soon so we can have something 
to tell her.” 

“ I don’t,” Estelle returned gloomily. “ I wish 
it would snow forever.” 

“ Oh, cheer up. What’s going to hurt you ? ” 

“ That’s the worst of it. I don’t know. If I 
knew, I might not be so scared.” 

Grace bore herself jauntily. The excitement 
and responsibility agreed with her. Grace’s tongue 
flew even faster than usual. She felt herself one 
of those singled out to confer a great boon on two 
unfortunate people and her importance swelled 
visibly. That in the process of doing good she 
was to see the inside of a mystery which had once 
piqued the whole countryside did not lessen her 
sense of virtue. If you could do good and have an 
exhilarating time doing it, all the better for you. 

Gay appeared much as usual, though traces of 
an inward intoxication flashed now and then 
63 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


through her coolly casual manner. She poked 
fun at herself, Grace, and Estelle indiscriminately. 
Her references to the immortal three hundred, to 
Horatius^s gory stand, and Nathan Haleys heroic 
fate, worried Estelle, bewildered Grace, and up- 
lifted the others. It is hard not to feel like heroes 
when you are about to do something which you 
think is at once daring, dangerous, and benevolent. 

A day-long snow-storm passed into a day’s thaw 
which in turn changed again to snow that ended 
in a sleety rain. The fourth day dawned on a world 
sheathed in diamonds. Every tree had its shining 
coat of mail ; every shrub’s tiniest twig glittered 
gloriously. Telephone wires were ropes of irides- 
cent light. Posts stood out like blocks hewn from 
the quarries of one richer than Midas. Moreover, 
wonder of wonders, it was Saturday. 

Gay’s order sped over the wire early. “ This 
afternoon — at one o’clock. A walk to Kirk’s 
spring on the crust.” 

Even though F. O. C. had been expecting some 
such word for three interminable days, hearts 
popped into throats. It is one thing to say, ‘‘ To- 
morrow ; ” it is quite another to have an event 
bring you up short with, ** To-day.” 

Estelle telephoned Mary, I don’t believe I’ll 
be able to go. I feel awfully queer.” 

** Where ? ” Mary threw back over the wire. 

64 


BEARDING THE LIONS 


“ In my chest. Isn^t that where you have 
pneumonia 

“ Funk/' Mary informed her. There's nothing 
the matter with you but pure funk. Don't desert 
Mr. Micawber." 

Estelle came, a little pale, openly nervous, but 
more dolorously lovely than ever. 

The seven gathered at Gay’s house. Grace, as 
usual, had dressed for the part. She arrived with 
Sally, whose costume she was engaged, also as 
usual, in reorganizing on the way. Helen and 
Anne skipped along in company, each thrilled to 
the heart of her with the importance of the after- 
noon's purpose. Mary walked, but not even Mary 
could keep the faintest hint of exaltation from her 
step. 

“ Morituri salutamus." So Gay, with an arm 
around Grace and Estelle, greeted her. 

Don't, Gay," breathed Estelle. 

If you are inclined to faint-heartedness, my 
child," Gay spun Grace into the center of the 
floor, regard your fellow-representative. Ever 
know Gracie had so many hats ? " 

“ This isn't a new hat. It's an old one trimmed 
over. I trimmed it especially for Mr. French." 

Mr. French ! " Gay rolled up her eyes. We’d 
better practice that. How did you do it ? The 
especially part of the hat, I mean.” 

65 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


** I said, ‘ That man has not seen a girTs hat for 
twenty years/ Then I sat down and thought out 
what kind of girl’s hat he would like best to see 
after those twenty years.” 

** It’s queer, but I like it.” Helen walked 
around Grace, inspecting the hat. 

“ It’s the prettiest hat you ever had on,” Mary 
approved. 

“ You’re a genius,” Gay assented. ** On hats. 
As everybody is here now, we’d better start.” 

Mary patted Estelle’s arm. Lead on, Mac- 
duff!” 

The seven threaded the streets briskly. At the 
outskirts of town Gay turned from the road. 

Now for the crust 1 ” 

Glittering white fields, broadly checkered with 
dark lines of fence, ran up hill and down be- 
fore the girls. Sally scampered a few yards and 
stamped her heels hard. Not even a dent showed 
on the icy surface. With a little whoop she ran 
on. The rest followed, scattering right and left. 

Isn’t this better than snow-shoes?” Gay cried. 

For a minute they forgot their purpose, forgot 
whither those shining fields would lead them. 
Only Estelle the fearful and Anne the pertinacious 
remembered. With gay shouts the others slid 
hither and thither over the snow. 

“ What an afternoon for coasting 1 ” 

66 


BEARDING THE LIONS 


“ If we weren't going to see the hermit " 

Then they all remembered. 

Come on I Come on I It's just as good slid- 
ing in his direction as all over the place," Sally 
cried. Sally was not to be of the skirmish line, 
and the fact spoke for itself in her voice. 

Running and sliding on light feet, storming 
the glittering swells, dipping swiftly into purple- 
shadowed hollows, the seven advanced. 

Suddenly Estelle stopped. “ I'm going home." 

Gay caught her arm. I would if I darst, but 
I darsn't," she whispered. 

“You, Gay?" 

The president of F. O. C. nodded. “ I don't ex- 
actly hanker for our job. And the further I go, 
the less I hanker." 

The two girls eyed each other. 

“ Let's both go home." 

“ 'Twon't do, Stella." 

But Gay, I can't make my feet go. They — 
they won't do it." 

“ Come as far as the spring, anyhow." 

They started on. Gay almost pulling Estelle. 
The line had suddenly fallen silent. Nobody 
shouted. Nobody ran ahead with a little squeal 
of happiness to get a long start for a slide. Feet 
dragged. Helen and Anne were first at the gap 
in the fence across the road from Kirk's spring. 
67 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


They waited for the others to catch up with them. 
Soberly the seven trailed into the road, Gay in the 
lead. 

Let^s get a drink, said Grace. 

They broke the ice that spanned the trickling 
water and in silence each quenched her thirst. 

I want another,^^ Grace remarked. 

The six watched her without speaking. Grace 
used plenty of time. She must have been very 
thirsty. 

I think,’^ Gay said, “ we would better rest a 
few minutes. It was rather too long a walk across 
those fields.’^ 

“ I think so too,” said Grace. 

The seven sat down on the crust near the spring 
and each of the seven drew a long breath. Sev- 
eral of them drew more than one. Whether she 
belonged to the skirmish line or not, each girl 
found her breathing apparatus not quite in its or- 
dinary working order. 

“ I see a chimney,” remarked Helen. 

It’s farther from the road than I thought,” 
Sally said nervously. 

Silence. 

The silence grew and deepened, widened and 
heightened, until it blotted out the whole beauti- 
ful sun-bathed winter day. Suddenly a giggle 
shattered it, a monstrous uncanny sound. Every 
68 


BEARDING THE LIONS 


girl jumped, and Grace choked on her own un- 
happy mirth. 

“ Does anybody want to see a hermit ? '' Gay in- 
toned the words after industriously beating Grace’s 
back. 

No ! ” Estelle and Grace spoke together. 

Neither do I,” said Gay. 

The other four gaped at them with wide open 
mouths and eyes. 

“ Aren’t you — going — on ? ” 

“ I’m scared,” said Gay. “ I shouldn’t have 
any breath left to speak to a hermit, if I saw one.” 

“ But your hat, Grace ! ” cried Helen idiotically. 

** Is anything wrong with it? ” 

You made it for — for him.” 

I’ll keep it for myself.” 

At least,” Mary said after a while, “ let’s walk 
past the place.” 

Gay jumped up. I’d just as soon walk past. 
In fact. I’d rather.” 

'' I’ll wait for you here,” said Estelle. 

But she didn’t. The six had scarcely moved 
three rods from the spring when Estelle caught 
up with them. " Too lonely,” was all the expla- 
nation she vouchsafed. 

On tiptoe they stole forward. When they spoke, 
they whispered, but for the most part nobody 
spoke. The world lay perfectly still around them. 
69 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


Like the girls, the earth seemed to hold its breath. 
Under the shadow of dark pines little trees 
stretched silver arms ; beyond them a tangle of 
wild grape-vines hung in full sun, an ice curtain 
that sparkled gloriously. The curtain fell almost 
to the snowy backs of two crouching creatures that 
guarded a break in the stone wall. 

They are lions,^’ Helen whispered, and jumped 
at the sound of her own voice. 

The gate is gone,^^ breathed Sally. 

A field of glimmering white swept upward from 
the wall and the crouching lions toward a house. 
It seemed to shrink away from the girls^ eyes, as 
though to hide its dinginess behind the leafless 
trees that interposed icy branches between it and 
passers-by. Yet it was not a small house. Tall 
pillars rose nobly to a perfectly proportioned pedi- 
ment. The windows were wide and stately. A 
door with fan lights gave on a terrace raised above 
the slope by a low retaining wall. 

As the seven peered fearfully they began to see 
more than the outlines. They saw ruin and shame 
and desolation. The windows were broken ; empty 
sockets of glass stared out at the road. The fan 
lights revealed ragged gashes. In two or three 
places the retaining wall poured a cascade of stones 
down the hill. Blinds were missing or hung 
rakishly by a single hinge. The whole place wore 
70 


BEARDING THE LIONS 


an unkempt deserted air. It looked as though no 
one had lived there for a dozen years. 

Grace pointed timorously. What — what are 

those ? 

“ I have been trying to make out/^ Mary whis- 
pered. 

Instinctively the girls had drawn together. 
They gripped hands as they stood. Although 
they were not cold, they shivered. Their eyes 
traveled from one to another of the strange shapes 
that broke the rise of the white slope, bizarre 
exotic shapes. 

Suddenly Gay snorted. Animals ! Animals ! 
Like the lions.^^ 

Gazing with enlightened understanding, they 
perceived. Under the gaunt limbs of an oak an 
elephant trumpeted with uplifted trunk. Out of 
a birch grove emerged an antlered deer. A giraffe 
nosed the branches of a maple. A bear reared it- 
self on its hind legs beneath an elm. 

Hurry up ! Let^s go home.’^ 

Theyh’e iron, Gracie. They canT eat you.^* 

I donT like ’em. Please, Gay, come home.” 
Why haven’t we ever seen them before?” 
Estelle queried. 

You can’t see much of anything in summer 
when the leaves are out on that vine,” Gay told 
her. 


71 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


They look too real to suit me.” Sally’s teeth 
chattered. I say, too, let’s go home.” 

See the snow on their backs. They’re frozen 
down tight.” 

Don’t be funny. Spud.” Grace’s voice wavered 
and went out. 

A puff of wind whipped the valley. It struck 
together the ice-sheathed branches with a sharp 
clashing. Overhead, all around, like steel on steel, 
the sound grew and dwindled. 

Grace threw her arms about Sally’s neck. 
‘‘ Quick I Run ! He’s after us.” > 

Panic-stricken, F. O. C. fled up the road. 

The seven stopped in the course of minutes and 
reconnoitered. 

I don’t see him,” Mary said. “ He’s gone back.” 

What did he look like ? ” Helen asked. 

Never mind that now,” Gay interposed. 

What I want to know is, why did you choose 
this way to run, Gracie ? ” 

This way ? ” 

Yes. Why didn’t you run toward home, if 
you were going to run? ” 

I did. Of course I did.” 

Surprised, the girls gazed about them. Grace 
dropped to the snow. Oh, my goodness ! what 
have we done ? I never can walk past that house 
again, never.” 

;2 


BEARDING THE LIONS 


Thoughtfully Mary considered Grace^s disconso- 
late figure. Did you really see anybody ? ” 

DonT go talking to me like that, Spud Tracy I 
You heard it. You all heard it.’^ 

“ Oh, that I ” Gay cried. Was that all you 
made such a fuss over? That was the wind.” 

“ The wind I ” 

“ Here it goes again.” 

The metallic clashing sounded and died once 
more. 

Gay started boldly down the road. Come on, 
lunatics.” 

Bunching a little, they followed their leader. 
Gay set a good pace and F. O. C. held to it briskly. 
Nobody cared to be left behind. 

Almost opposite the guarding lions Anne^s voice 
challenged the stillness. Isn't any one going in ? ” 

Gay swung around sharply and the company 
halted in disorder. 

No,” Grace said crossly. Of course not. 
What are you stopping for. Gay ? ” 

I think,” Anne was monotonous, I think 
some one ought to go in.” 

“ Well, I don't,” Sally cried. I think we were 
fools to talk of it. For goodness' sake, don't stop 
here ! ” 

Anne's eyes traveled from one face to another 
and came to rest on Helen's. 

73 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


I shall go in/^ she announced. “ We came to 
go in.’^ 

Helen spoke without giving herself time to 
think. She did not want to think. 

I will go with you, Anne.'^ 

Anne put out her hand, and without another 
word the two advanced on the lions. Behind 
them, a confusion of voices, babbling commands 
and entreaties ; before them, the sweep of shining 
crust, broken by tree trunks, strange animal shapes, 
and the desolate house. Helen and Anne climbed 
steadily, never once looking back. Helenas feet 
felt like lumps of ice, her tongue lumbered her 
dry mouth. She had no sense now of heroic action, 
only fear, hideous fear. But she could not let 
Anne go alone. 

At the elephant Gay caught up with them. 

Morituri salutamus ! Gay said to the elephant. 

Don’t I ” Helen managed to enunciate. 

But Gay had found her voice and liked the 
sound of it. ** I shall talk,” she announced. I 
shall talk and we’ll all feel better. I feel better 
already. Stage fright. Pure stage fright. There’s 
nothing to be worried about in calling on a hermit. 
Interesting human experience. You’re a brick, 
Anne, a double row of A No. 1 bricks. Hello, 
here’s the nimble gazelle I If I weren’t about to 
call on a hermit. I’d take a ride on your back, sir. 

74 


BEARDING THE LIONS 


Whew, but the place looks rotten. I don't quite 

like dragging Judith into this, but Shall we 

ring the front door-bell ? I'll break my leg in a 
hole in the porch, most likely." 

I do not think he lives in the front of the 
house," Anne said. Her hand held Helen's very 
tightly. 

** Wow I " A bush tinkled its icy arms and Gay 
veered away from it. You startled me ! " She 
addressed the bush severely. 

Helen was too much frightened to speak. Her 
vivid imagination conjured before her mind's eye 
a procession of terrors. That sane reflection 
would have told her it was impossible to meet 
them all in the flesh did not matter. Helen was 
beyond sane reflection. She could only put one 
foot in front of the other and cling to Anne. 
Gay's voice comforted a little. That irrepressible 
rivulet of speech ran on and on, it seemed to Helen, 
like Lord Tennyson's brook, forever. Later, 
thinking it all over, she understood what people 
meant when they spoke of crowding a lifetime into 
a minute. 

Helen felt old and gray and hoary when they 
reached the ell of the house. It did not occur to 
her to turn back for the simple reason that no 
ideas whatever occurred to her, except the original 
idea with which she was furnished when she took 
75 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 

Anne's hand at the broken-down gate. She would 
go with Anne. 

The corner of the house was before them. Be- 
yond — who knew ? No human footstep had left 
its trace on that wide expanse of dazzling snow be- 
hind them. The house had as yet given no hu- 
man sign. The silence was broken only by the 
silver clashings of trees and bushes, by the foot- 
falls of the girls on the hard crust. 

They rounded the corner of the house and found 
themselves facing a shrubbery tunnel arched with 
diamonds. At the entrance a snowy backed iron 
dog, ice bound, like everything else, fronted them 
belligerently. Behind the dog a cascade of ice- 
coated monkeys swung down from branch to branch 
of the tall bushes. 

Helen jumped. Anne wavered, but gave back 
not an inch. Jee-rusalem ! " muttered Gay. 

Deliberately, her small face set as though carved 
in granite, Anne walked into the tunnel. Helen 
pressed in after her and Gay brought up the rear. 
The path wound for several yards through what 
might have been an ice cave, so closely the thick 
stems sprang aloft. Below their interlacing twigs 
twilight had fallen. Through it the three moved 
cautiously. A sudden turn dazzled them with 
brilliant sunshine. The shadowed walk opened 
out into a wide space sloping from the south of the 
76 


BEARDING THE LIONS 


ell to an evergreen hedge. On the north rose a 
higher wall of green. Masses of low evergreens 
and of red berried bushes spread here and there ; 
slender columns of fir and cedar spired at regular 
intervals. Through the low bushes and among 
the columnar trees ran carefully shoveled paths. 
On one of these a man was walking. 

He was a little man, a dapper little man, though 
his clothes were not exactly like the clothes of any 
men the three startled girls had ever seen. Helen 
thought she remembered costumes that resembled 
his pictured in old magazines at home. She was 
trying to think in which story he had appeared as 
an illustration when the little man reached the end 
of the path he was traversing, whipped off the hat 
he wore, and began to mop his head violently 
with a white handkerchief. That head, the girls 
saw at a glance, was pinkly and completely bald. 
Wheeling abruptly and jamming the hat down 
again above a clean-shaven face, he started back 
along another path, swinging his stick. 

Anne, still holding Helen's hand, stepped out of 
the alley. Gay followed. The little man's eyes 
fell upon the three girls. For a minute he stood 
petrified. Then his thin figure appeared to swell 
and bristle. The stick flew round and round in 
his hand so rapidly it looked to the frightened 
girls like a hoop revolving in the air. He opened 
77 




HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 

his mouth and a sound issued, a sound so prodig- 
ious, so out of proportion to his size, that even Anne 
jumped when she heard it. The sound bellowed 
through the garden, reverberated from the house 
wall, and rolled away down the slope. The four 
girls who waited nervously in the road below 
caught the echo of it and fled for their lives toward 
home. 

Go away ! roared the little man as one of his 
own lions might have thundered. ‘‘ Go away I 
What do you want here ? Go away, I say I 


78 


CHAPTER V 


A STAND AND A KETKEAT 

The reverberation of that frightful voice in actual 
space was as nothing to the noise it made in 
Helenas mind. The universe seemed filled with its 
gigantic roaring. It resounded from earth to 
heaven and was echoed from the farthest star. 
Under its impact all other senses sank impotent. 
Helen became one great ear that could do nothing 
but listen, listen, rooted to the spot in terror. 

Fear alone would not have sufficed to hold her 
there. Fear alone would have sent her scudding 
madly back by the way she had come. But there 
was also loyalty, a dumb, unreasoned, unconscious 
loyalty. She could not run away without Anne. 
And Anne did not run. Helen could feel her 
fingers tremble. Perhaps Anne^s legs shook under 
her, but her feet did not swerve. 

Gay explained afterward that she remained 
where she was for the reason that she thought she 
had already had exercise enough for one day. 

Are you Mr. French ? 

Anne^s voice was colorless from fear. Her face 
79 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


was colorless too, as pale and obstinate and oddly 
fierce as it had looked when Helen first knew her. 

Go away I bellowed the little man. Go 
away ! His stick whirled deliriously. 

The slender thread of Anne’s voice continued its 
catechism^ “ Were you ever in Westport, Maine ? ” 
The little man threw up both hands and emitted 
an inarticulate roar of wrath. 

Suddenly Anne stamped her foot. She took a 
step forward, her hand still in Helenas. Into her 
face came an expression Helen had seen once be- 
fore on Anne’s features, a compelling imperative 
look, a look like her grandfather’s. 

‘‘ Do you think we wanted to come here ? ” she 
threw at the hermit. Do you think we shall 
ever come again ? We came to find out some- 
thing. We must find it out. Why don’t you an- 
swer our questions ? ” 

The dapper little man glared at her. 

Tell him about Judith, Gay,” Anne ordered. 
Gay adjudged it wise to make a short story. 
We know a girl named Judith French,” she said 
rapidly, who can’t remember living anywhere 
but in an orphan’s home. She was born in West- 
port, Maine, and she has no relatives at all so far 
as she knows. We are trying to find some rela- 
tives for her. Her father’s name was Raymond 
Liston French. Her mother’s name was Melissa 
8o 



( ( 


> y 


GET OUT OF HERE 


GO AWAY 





A STAND AND A RETREAT 

White. We thought you 'might — perhaps — per- 
haps ” 

“ Be her great-uncle or something/' Helen fin- 
ished, quaking. 

The hermit appeared beyond speech. Even his 
unintelligible roar had deserted him. 

'' She is a splendid girl.” Gay had found her 
voice again. 

She works for her board, taking care of a 

baby ” Helen ran out of breath easily under 

the hermit's eye. 

She smiles,'' Gay said, “ whemyou might think 
she'd cry.'' 

She is the cheerfullest girl '' Again 

Helen's breath failed her. 

The three eyed the petrified hermit solicitously 
for a minute. Then Anne returned to her cate- 
chism. 

Were you born in Westport, Maine? '' 

The little man came alive with a bellow beside 
which his former thunders had been as the cooing 
of doves. “ I never heard of Westport, Maine. 
Get out of here ! Go away ! Scat ! '' 

With a terrific whirl of his cane he started 
toward them. The three inquisitors broke ranks 
and fled. Through the shrubbery tunnel, past the 
monkeys and the dog, around the house and across 
thq lawn, by the deer and the elephant, slipping, 

8i 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


tumbling, scrambling up only to fall again in their 
frantic haste and roll over and over before they 
could clutch at a leg of animal or low hanging 
limb of tree and find their feet again, pell-mell 
the hermit^s visitors departed. Between the lions 
and out into the road they panted, and on past the 
spring, staggering, gasping, slackening speed only 
to spurt again. At last Helen stubbed her toe on 
a rut in the road and, pitching head foremost, lay 
prone. 

Gay threw a glance over her shoulder, halted 
and staggered back to the fallen girl. Anne had 
already dropped beside Helen. 

** Hurt ? ” Gay managed to articulate. 

“ Is — is he — coming ? 

“ No sign of him.'^ 

“ I couldn’t — run another — step — if he — was go- 
ing to kill me.” 

Gay stretched out a hand to Helen and another 
to Anne. Better — get out of — the road.” 

They rose weakly and the three reeled over to 
the side of the road and sat down on an ice-cov- 
ered boulder. 

Nobody — followed — us,” Anne gasped. 

What did you run for ? ” Gay asked her. 

“ That is what — I — don’t know.” 

I ran — after I got started,” Helen explained, 
“ because I had — started — and because — you ran.” 

82 


A STAND AND A RETREAT 


I ran,” Gay said, firstly, because everybody 
else ran. Secondly, to please the hermit. He 
wanted us to run.” 

“ Well,” Helen exclaimed, that^s over ! Wefil 
never have even to think of doing it again.” She 

turned on Anne. You ” she began. Oh, 

Anne ! ” Then she hugged her. 

Anne squeezed back. What makes you hug 
me?” 

You were — wonderful. Anne, I never in my 
life saw anybody like you I ” Helen’s whole soul 
glowed in tribute in her eyes as she gazed at Anne. 

Gay nodded. Anne was all right. When you 

stood up there, and quizzed that hermit He 

could have knocked me over with a feather.” 

So he could me,” Anne told them. I did not 
have to talk with my legs.” 

'' We all talked,” Gay said. Taking us by and 
large we did pretty well, on the whole. But the 
best of us was Anne.” 

“ No,” Anne’s voice was peremptory. ** I will 
not have you say so.” 

** Anne Alden,” Gay informed her, “ if you be- 
gin to talk to me as you did to that hermit I shall 
run all the way home.” 

Don’t I ” Helen begged. “ I can’t run another 
step, Gay.” 

The president of F. O. C. stood up. ''If we 
83 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


don't tell on ourselves, nobody is going to know 
that we ran at all." 

Why, where are the other girls ? " Astonish- 
ment brought Helen to her feet. 

“ Just missed 'em? " 

** The hermit drove everything out of my head, 
Gay.” 

“ Vamoosed," said Gay. “ Evaporated from the 
landscape. Maybe they got tired waiting. Maybe 
they decided to call out the militia. Now if you 
get up too, Anne, we'll all be up and we can start 
along home." 

I have lost my ribbon." Anne rose obedi- 
ently. 

“ I have lost everything that was not sewed on 
to me," Gay informed her. “ The hermit's wel- 
come to 'em. I shan't call around at his side door 
and ask for my property." 

Abreast, Gay in the middle, the three trudged 
along the road. They felt no desire to run on the 
crust and slide. They began to perceive that their 
helter-skelter good-bye to the hermit had rather 
taken it out of them. 

“ Hello," said Gay, '' the relief expedition 
appears." 

Mary rounded a curve in the road ahead. With 
a cry of joy she turned to wave at somebody be- 
hind her, then hurried forward. 

84 


A STAND AND A RETREAT 


“ Oh, girls, what did he do to you ? 

We thought we were never going to see you 
again I Estelle had caught up with Mary. 

‘‘We had a satisfactory call, very satisfactory. 
Don^t you think so ? Gay interrogated Helen. 

Helen played up nobly to Gay’s lead. “ Yes, 
indeed. We found out all that we wanted to and 
something more.” 

“ Did you hear anything? ” Gay turned to the 
other two. 

“ Did we ! ” 

Estelle shivered. “ I can hear it yet.” 

“ We ran away,” Mary confessed. “ We didn’t 
stop to think, we just ran.” 

“ So we judged,” said Gay, “ when we found the 
road empty. The hermit has a fine voice, so strong 
and resonant.” 

“ Was it really the hermit who made that noise, 
Gay?” 

“ Come to think of it. Spud, the gentleman failed 
to introduce himself. We judged, and I think you 
would have agreed with us, that he was the hermit. 
We tried to be very tactful.” Gay giggled sud- 
denly. The word recalled memories. “ He seemed 
to have no hesitation in addressing us, but, as I 
say, we tried to be tactful. We avoided all refer- 
ences to his manner of life. Anne called him 
Mr. French.” 


85 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


Anne I 

‘‘ Certainly. Anne did most of the talking.^^ 

I did not/^ said Anne. 

“ Oh, we all talked,’’ Gay explained, but I 
doubt whether we should have opened our mouths 
if Anne hadn’t started conversation. The laurels 
are Anne’s.” ^ 

I wish you would talk sense. Gay,” mourned 
Estelle. 

Here the advancing pedestrians came upon the 
remaining members of F. O. C., arguing heatedly 
over the direction in which they should proceed. 
Grace rushed at them and threw her arms about 
the neck of each of the daring three. 

Oh, you heroines ! Are you really all right? 
We didn’t know what that awful man had done 
to you, and we thought we’d better hurry home 
for help and ” 

** That’s what we thought you’d thought. Grade. 
Lucky we caught up with you before you turned 
the town out in a body to call on our hermit. He’s 
not a sociable person.” 

“ Begin at the beginning,” Sally begged, '' and 
tell us exactly what happened.” 

Veni, vidi, vici,” Gay quoted grandiloquently. 

“ My goodness ! ” cried Grace. Then what we 

heard Is he really the great-uncle ? When’s 

he going to see Judith ? ” 

86 


A STAND AND A RETREAT 


“ Great-uncle I I should hope not ! 

But you said you came out on the top of the 
heap/’ Sally put in. 

'' We did/’ Gay asserted. We’re here, aren’t 
we ? That’s more than I’d be likely to say of you 
if you’d seen the hermit, Gracie.” 

Was he awful? ” 

“ I don’t believe he was horrid at all.” 

You heard him,” said Helen. 

Grace and Sally opened their eyes. Honestly 
— was that — the hermit?” 

“ Honestly, it was.” 

And you — you actually got out of him what 
we wanted to know ? ” gasped Estelle. 

Anne did,” Gay said. 

Anne spoke to him?” The four almost whis- 
pered the incredulous words. 

Anne stamped her foot at him.” Helen spoke. 

I never. Did I, Helen ? ” 

You certainly did,” Helen and Gay assured 

her. 

I do not remember doing that.” 

And you looked like Mr. Lathrop. Your face 
did.” 

Truly, Helen ? ” Anne’s countenance glowed. 

Mary Tracy eyed the three principals sceptically. 

You must have been pretty splendid.” 

‘‘ We were,” Gay acknowledged unblushingly. 

87 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 

It astounds me to remember some things that 
we did — and said. The only time I quite recog- 
nized us was when — oh, it’s too good to keep — 
when we stampeded down that hill at the end.” 

You ran away ? ” 

We ran away.” 

I don’t call that very splendid.” 

Gay looked Grace over from head to foot. 

Perhaps,” she remarked loftily, “ if you had 
been in our place, when your call was over, and 
you had found out everything that you wanted to 
know, you might have retreated somewhat — er — 
precipitately. Miss Howe, had the gentleman you 
were calling on come at you with a stick, bellow- 
ing like a bull of Bashan.” 

“ Not really ! ” gasped Estelle. 

We heard him! We heard him!” Grace 
was dancing up and down with excitement and 
impatience. 

He invited us to leave and we left, to find,” 
Gay continued, that other people had done it be- 
fore us.” 

Just what was it he told you ? ” Mary ques- 
tioned. 

'' That he never heard of Westport, Maine,” said 
Anne. 

Do you mean,” Grace cried, that we planned 
everything out so nicely and took this long walk 
88 


A STAND AND A RETREAT 


and got frightened out of our wits half a dozen 
times, all for nothing ? 

Exactly that,^’ said Gay. 

“ Well, I don't think much of him ! " 
Nevertheless, Grace found the tale that Gay 
told, seconded by promptings from Helen and 
Anne, well worth listening to. The recital re- 
duced the four auditors to a state of spellbound 
agitation delicious to experience. Gay told it 
well, giving due weight to the rotting piazza 
planks, the cascading monkeys, and the shrubbery 
tunnel. 

Anne walked right out of it," continued the 
narrator with a flourish. “ I can't think what she 
wanted to do it for. I didn't. I preferred to see 
the monkeys again. But Anne and Helen walked 
out. There was the hermit in a kind of winter 
garden taking his afternoon constitutional. He 
had his back to us and the sun was in our eyes 
and it had been dark among the bushes. We 
squinted across the snow at him and at first I 
thought he was about ten feet tall. In a minute I 
saw that was a wrong estimate. He's five three, 
I guess, or maybe three and five-eighths, though 
when he turned around and roared and I thought 
he was about to eat us alive, he shot up to twenty 
and kept on going. Anne opened conversation, 
as I said before. I suppose she remembered you 
89 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


wanted him put at his ease, Gracie. He looked 
easy enough to me. It was we who needed some- 
body to be tactful to us, I thought. Anne trotted 
up to him as cool as you please — oh, she left a 
little space between, I was thankful for that — and 
she said ” 

‘‘ You make me sound brave,^^ Anne interrupted, 
‘‘ and I was not brave. I was scared stiff.^^ 

Your legs worked all right,^^ Helen admonished 
her, ** and your voice.^^ 

** Who is telling this story ? Gay demanded. 

And Anne said ’’ 

You do not tell it right.'^ 

“ Go on, Gay, quick! ” cried the four. 

“ And Anne said Gay carried the recital 

to its precipitate end. 

In awestruck silence the listeners entered town. 
Finally Estelle spoke. 

** It sounds,^' she said, too good to be true. 
Didn't you make it all up. Gay ? " 

Gay wheeled on her. Miss Lawrence I " 

“ No," said Mary Tracy, they didn't. I'm 
sure of that. If they had made it up, they 
wouldn't have said that they ran away at the 
end." 

That's true," Estelle acknowledged. They 
wouldn't. I beg your pardon, Gay. Don't be 
cross." 


90 


A STAND AND A RETREAT 


Aspersing my voracity ! ” groaned Gay. 

You are heroines.” Grace’s voice carried the 
conviction of her soul. And you don’t look any 
different from what you did before, except a little 
mussy.” 

The others squealed gleefully. 

“ Some day, Grade,” said Gay, “ you’ll be the 
death of me.” 

So the seven neared home, to all appearances, as 
Grace had described them, much like the seven 
who had set out in the earlier afternoon. But 
now their hearts beat with the elation of peril 
safely past. They were inclined to strut a little, 
to hold their heads high, and wish the people they 
met could know of their marvelous adventure. 
They thought there were not many people in town 
who had talked with a hermit. The four who had 
not done it crept under the mantle of the three 
who had dared and drew its glory admiringly 
around them. The courageous three themselves 
began to prance a little. The voices of F. O. C. 
rose a trifle. Their laughter threatened to become 
shrill. They occupied more space than they needed 
on the sidewalk. Altogether, they thought ex- 
ceedingly well of themselves. All but Anne. 
Anne had a disconcerting way of sticking to the 
point in hand. She stuck to it, whether or no it 
pricked her, and it pricked her now. 

91 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


** We have not found out anything about 
Judith.” 

“ We have found another place where we needn't 
look,” Helen countered. That's something.” 

The others took but momentary notice of 
Anne's words. Their minds were too full of posi- 
tive adventure to give much attention to negative 
results. Even Anne was not cast down by the 
thought. Who could grieve when her fellows 
showed by every look and word that they admired 
her ? Admiration was still too new to Anne's ex- 
perience to be lightly treated. 

She and Helen turned into their own street, 
walking on air. I wish we had asked him a lit- 
tle more,” Helen regretted. I can think now of 
plenty of things we might have said.” 

We asked him enough,” said Anne. 

Why do you suppose he has all those queer 
animals on his lawn? ” 

To scare people away, maybe.” 

“ They didn't scare us — very much.” 

“ The monkeys did, and the dog. The monkeys 
made me feel queer.” 

“ But we kept right on,” said Helen. 

Uplifted, she entered her house. Through that 
door she had last issued, an ordinary girl. Now 
she returned — a heroine. Helen's thoughts touched 
the word fearfully, fascinated. It must be true. 

92 


A STAND AND A RETREAT 


The girls had said so. Yet how could that 
glorious word apply to her ? A million times, it 
seemed to Helen, she had dreamed of doing 
splendid deeds. Now she had done one. Only 
she wished, she passionately wished, that she 
hadn^t run away. That ignominious flight had 
left a sting. It spoiled the picture. 

For a minute Helen loitered in the hall, doing 
it over. She saw herself standing nobly awaiting 
the hermit^s onslaught. She saw the whirling 
stick drop peacefully to his side ; she watched the 
fires die in the blazing eyes ; she heard the bellow 
dwindle in his throat. He came to a halt a yard 
in front of her. ‘‘ What — what — what can I do 
for you ? faltered the little man humbly. After 
that they might have walked up and down to- 
gether along the carefully swept paths. They 
might Anything was possible at this dis- 

tance. 

Helen abandoned the impressive picture, and 
skipped on through the house to find her mother. 
Closing the oven door on the potatoes, Mrs. 
Thayer looked up to meet an animated face. 

Oh, mother, mother ! WeVe seen the hermit ! 
Gay and Anne and I. The others wouldn't go. 
They were scared. We were scared too, but Anne 
— Anne insisted somebody must go in and of 
course we couldn't let her go alone. He never 
93 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


heard of the place where Judith came from. 
That was all he said, except to tell us to go away. 
It was perfectly frightful, mother. The monkeys 
were the worst ! But Anne went right on. And 
the girls think we^re heroines. Anne was — I*m 
sure of that — only we ran away at the end. We j ust 

skedaddled. He came for us, you know, and '' 

“ Helen I What in the world are you talking 
about ? 

Why, the hermit, mother. You know, Mr. 
French. The man who lives across the line in 
Maywood, just beyond Kirk^s spring. The place 
is a perfect ruin, you never saw anything like it. 
It^s lots worse than it looks from the road. You 
wouldnT think it could be, but it is. He has 
animals set about everywhere, made of iron, an 

elephant and a deer and a bear and 

“ But what was my daughter doing in this man^s 
grounds? 

** We had to ask him a question, F. O. C. did. 
You see, we thought he might be Judith^s great- 
uncle. There isn’t any French family in town. 
He’s the only one anywhere round that we could 
hear of, and of course you can’t call him a family 
exactly. We thought of writing a letter, but her- 
mits Well, you know, mother, what their 

habits are. They simply don’t answer your let- 
ters if you write them, and we had to know 
94 


A STAND AND A RETREAT 


whether this one came from Westport, Maine. So 
we decided to go ourselves. If he turned out to 
be related to Judith, it would be grand, for of 
course he has bushels of money hidden away some- 
where, and anyway we had to find out about him 
before we tried any one else for Judith. Wasn^t it 
all right for us to do ? We didn^t tell anybody, 
because it seemed as though Judith ought to be 
the first one to know if he was her uncle, and if he 
wasn^t, we didn't like to get her hopes up only to 
dash them down again. Though I almost told 
you he might be her uncle the night after we went 
coasting, when you hushed me up, mother. Wasn't 
it all right?" 

“ All right, Nell, to trespass on private grounds 
in order to speak with a man who has given every 
indication possible that he does not wish to see 
visitors ? " 

But — but, mother " 

I am very much ashamed of you, daughter." 

Helen wilted. 

“ It was not kind, or polite," continued her 
mother. It did not show even common decency. 
The only excuse for what you have done is that 
you did it thoughtlessly. But I do not wish my 
daughter to be a girl for whom excuses of that 
kind have to be made." 

But Judith " Helen besought. 

95 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


‘‘ Judith has too much sound sense ever to have 
thought of such a thing. So I supposed had at 
least one or two other members of the club, Helen. 
That the recluse whose privacy you infringed this af- 
ternoon might, because of the coincidence of name, 
prove to be related to your friend Judith is an idea 
worthy only of a very silly and romantic schoolgirl.” 

“ We — we all thought it.” 

“ Then you all need to cultivate common sense.” 
Mrs. Thayer^s face was very grave. I want my 
little girl to learn to base her fancies on the laws of 
fact. Above all I wish her to be considerate of the 
point of view of others, whether those others live 
like the people she is accustomed to or not.” 

Across the street Anne also was seeing F. O. C.^s 
adventure in a new light. 

My dear Anne,” said her grandfather when 
Anne^s story was done, “ I regret exceedingly that 
you did not communicate with me before taking 
this action.” 

Perplexity troubled the clear decision of Anne^s 
face. 

“ Not that I wish you to consult me in all mat- 
ters, Anne. I desire to have you feel free to exer- 
cise your own judgment. However, in the affair of 
this afternoon, granddaughter, it would have been 
better had you spoken with me.” 

You mean you are sorry I went? ” 

96 


A STAND AND A RETREAT 


You have stated the fact, Anne. It pains me 
deeply.^’ 

Why, grandfather? 

“ was not a courteous thing to do, Anne.^' 

“You mean because I went into a yard that did 
not belong to me ? 

“ You forced yourself into the presence of a man 
who desired to be alone. You compelled him to 
speak when he wished to be silent.^^ 

“ I was not thinking of that,’^ Anne said. “ I 
was thinking of Judith. I wanted her to belong 
to somebody.'^ 

Mr. Lathrop put his arm around the small wist- 
ful figure and lifted it to his knee. 

“ I do not think,’^ he said, “ that Miss French 
would care to belong to the gentleman you called 
on, Anne.’^ 

“ Now that I have seen him I do not want her 
to belong to him.^^ Anne shivered. “He — he 
frightens me — to think of him frightens me.^^ 

“ There is nothing really frightful about him,’^ 
said her grandfather. “ Except for the lonely life 
he has chosen to live — which is, I confess, Anne, a 
somewhat terrifying conception — Marcus French is 
the gentlest, the shyest of men.’^ 

“ His voice was not shy,^^ Anne objected. “ Do 
you know him ? 

“ I used to know him more than twenty years 
97 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


ago. When he came to live in this vicinity he let 
it be understood that he wished to hold no dealings 
with old friends and to make no new acquaint- 
ances. I have respected his wish.’^ 

Anne meditated. “ What made him want to live 
like that? 

He had found the world of men and women too 
difficult, and he decided to essay a life without the 
men and women. I confess, Anne, I am unable to 
follow his reasoning. The very gentleness of his 
soul was his undoing.’^ A shadow crossed the 
finely cut features. Marcus French was made of 
too soft fiber to withstand the world ; he elected, 
while still in the fiesh, to leave it.’^ 

I do not quite understand.'’ 

Neither do I, my dear." 

“ Was his voice always loud — like that ? " Anne 
shivered again. 

“ He had the softest man's voice I ever heard." 

Anne marveled. Then a tear slowly welled over 
her lashes and slid down her cheek. 

Why, Anne ! Anne, my dear ! " 

** I have made you sorry," she said. I wouldn't 
have done that for — anything." She hid her face 
against his coat. 

He held her close. Truth compels me to ad- 
mit," his lips said close to the srhall ear, that I am 
also proud of you, Anne." 

98 


A STAND AND A RETREAT 


She turned in his arms and gazed up at him. 
‘‘ Proud — of me, grandfather ? 

A smile twitched at his lips. “ Of the fact that 
you did not run away sooner.^^ 

Again Anne made her confession. “ I wanted 
to run all the time.^^ 

Plenty of soldiers would like to run, grand- 
daughter. If they want to and don^t, they^re good 
soldiers.’^ 

“ But you said you were sorry I went.^’ 

“ My feelings are mixed, Anne. I am indeed 
sorry you went, but since the fact remains that you 
did go, I am glad that you stayed as long as you 
did.^^ 

The small face bloomed. Helen told me I 
looked like you, grandfather. That makes twice 
she has said it.” 

Anne thought a long while with her head against 
her grandfather^s shoulder. 

He would never have done for Judith,” she 
said at last. Judith likes folks.” 


99 


CHAPTER VI 


AFTERWARD 

I SUPPOSE it was pretty cheeky of us/^ Sally^ 
acknowledged when Helen and Anne had gloomily 
reported the reception accorded their recital. I 
hadn^t thought of it that way till now.^' 

All I thought of was Judith/^ Mary Tracy 
remarked. 

“ If it was cheeky, we’ll have to apologize,” said 
Gay. 

You can’t apologize to a hermit.” 

“ Why not, Gracie? ” 

Because Ixe’s a hermit.” 

^*I don’t see how you can, either,” Estelle 
agreed, ** without being more cheeky.” 

“Do you mean. Gay,” Helen questioned, “that 
we ought to go and see him again ? Because if 
you do ” 

“ I do not,” said Gay hastily. “ A note written 
by the secretary-treasurer is about my idea.” 

“He won’t read it.” Sally shook her head 
emphatically. “ Real hermits, like the kind Mr. 
Lathrop says he is, never read their mail. They 
don’t want mail.” 


100 


JIFTERWARD 


“ I don^t care whether he reads it or not/’ Gay 
declared. “ That isn’t our business.” 

But what good is it going to do for us 
to write it, if he doesn’t read it?” questioned 
Estelle. 

Maybe it will make us feel respectable again,” 
said Anne. 

I feel respectable enough now,” said Grace. 
'‘Don’t you, Sally?” 

" Middling,” Sally rejoined. “ But I’m willing 
to stand for the note.” 

" Oh, I’ll stand for it,” Grace agreed. " Want 
some paper, Helen ? ” 

" Make it short,” suggested Estelle. 

" The shorter it is, the better he’ll like it,” Mary 
said, " if he ever reads it at all.” 

After much consultation, many revisions, and 
several entirely new starts, F. O. C.’s apology was 
completed to the satisfaction of all concerned. 

" The three girls who went to see him last Satur- 
day afternoon wish to beg Mr. French’s pardon for 
intruding on his privacy.” (That phrase was 
Helen’s.) " They would not have done it, if they 
had thought more before they went.” 

" Reading that ought not to hurt him,” Gay 
said. " Stick this stamp on it, Helen. We’ll drop 
it into the box when we go home and so good-bye to 
the hermit. What shall we do next ? ” 

lOI 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


What is there to do ? asked Grace. 

** I thought you were looking up Jack White.'’ 

** There’s nothing in that, Spud. His people 
moved here from Syracuse, New York, and his 
father was born in Chicago. They never had 
anything to do with Westport, Maine. His mother 
told me so.” 

I tried Alice White’s family,” Estelle an- 
nounced. She has three uncles, you know, and 
they all have plenty of children. I asked her 
whether she belonged to the Maine Whites and 
Alice said she didn’t think so. Her father and all 
his brothers were born in Monson and Alice’s 
grandfather lives there yet in a house that his 
father lived in and I don’t know how many of his 
ancestors before him. A good many, Alice said. 
It’s been in the family a hundred and fifty years, 
and Alice and her cousins go over for Thanks- 
giving every year.” 

I discovered a family of Whites on Walnut 
Street,” Gay announced, that nobody seemed to 
know anything about. The house was nice, and 
they looked all right. So one day I rang the door- 
bell. The lady who came to the door had a baby 
at her skirts. It sounded as though there were 
more up-stairs. She asked me to step into the 
hall and I asked her if she knew whether her 
husband belonged to the Westport branch of the 
102 


AFTERWARD 


great White family. I said genealogies were inter- 
esting and the Westport Whites were a fine set of 
people, though pretty well scattered — a book of 
Whites would be a good thing to have. She said 
her husband came from Delaware and could trace 
his ancestors back to Peregrine White, who was 
born on the * Mayfiower,^ but none of his line had 
ever lived in Maine. She hoped I’d let her know 
when the book came out, because her husband was 
keen on genealogy and he always bought all the 
White books he could find. I said the date hadn’t 
been set yet, in fact I rather doubted if there ever 
would be a book, this bunch of Whites were so 
hard to get at. We both bowed and scraped and I 
came away.” 

Gay Flint ! ” 

That’s my name, Gracie. How did you happen 
to mention it ? ” 

Even if I’d had wit enough to think up that 
string, I never should have been able to carry it 
through,” mourned Estelle. How do you manage 
such things. Gay ? ” 

Minds differ,” Gay returned modestly. “ But 
she almost got me with that request about letting 
her know when the book came out. Never oc- 
curred to me she’d take me up on a general re- 
mark. I just put the thing in for plausibility. 
Never mind — ' All’s well that ends well.’ ” 

103 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


I don^t see,” Estelle pondered, but that weVe 
come to a dead stop.” 

WeVe raked the town with a fine tooth comb 
for Frenches and Whites,” Gay acknowledged, 
and there's nothing doing.” 

“ I should hope,” said Sally, ** there wouldn't 
be anything doing again as bad as that hermit. I 
think he was perfectly horrid.” 

'‘So do I,” Grace chimed in. "I haven't any 
use for him. We'll never find any relatives for 
Judith French. How could we? There aren't 
any to find.” 

" You don't know that,” expostulated Helen. 

" Well, you don't know that there are any. I 
don't see but I've just as good a right to say there 
aren't any as you have to say there are.” 

" I'd rather say there are.” 

" And keep on getting into scrapes like that 
hermit one, I suppose. No, thank you.” 

" Don't let it worry you,” drawled Gay. " You 
didn't get anywhere near so far as Helen did into 
the hermit scrape.” 

" Don't, Gay,” murmured Helen. 

" No, thank goodness, I didn't.” 

" Getting hot, Gracie ? ” 

" What should I get hot about? That I didn’t 
go as far as some of the rest of you ? I don't call 
that hermit business a bit nice ! ” 

104 


AFTERWARD 


Whew-ew-ew ! Gay whistled. Hear the 
perfect lady ! 

‘‘Just the same, Gay Flint, a lady doesn^t call 
on perfectly strange men in their own houses ! 

“ Little lesson in etiquette,’’ grinned Gay. “ Get 
the facts right, Gracie. Outside their own houses, 
you mean.” 

“ You know perfectly well what I mean.” 

“ Stop quarreling, children,” said Mary lightly. 
“ Did you go coasting Saturday night, Gracie ? ” 

“ Yes, I did, and I’m going again to-night. I’ve 
got to study now. I’m sick and tired of hearing 
about that old hermit. Coming, Sally ? ” 

Sally and Grace departed and the others looked 
at each other interrogatively. 

“ What ruffled her feathers ? ” Gay asked. 

“ I think,” said Estelle, “ it was something Phil 
Knowles said about you three and the hermit.” 

Gay sat up erect with a jerk. “ That story isn’t 
going all over town, is it? ” 

“ How did Phil Knowles know about the 
hermit?” Helen demanded. 

“ I judge Grace told him,” said Estelle. 

“ Little tattle-tale I ” 

“ That isn’t fair. Gay,” Mary remonstrated. 
“ You know yourself it makes a first rate story, 
and that Grace’s tongue wags at both ends. Noth- 
ing was said about keeping still.” 

105 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


Nothing was said, because we supposed the 
rest of you had sense.” 

“ Grace doesn^t always use the sense she has 
when she’s talking,” said Mary. 

“ What was it Phil said that made her mad ? ” 
Gay inquired. 

“ He seemed to be admiring you.” 

Me ! ” 

You and Helen and Anne,” said Estelle. “ He 
was asking her to tell over again how you three 
stood up to the hermit. It finally percolated her 
brain that she wasn’t the center of admiration at 
the moment. Grace doesn’t take kindly to play- 
ing second to anybody’s first when a boy’s around.” 

Pooh ! ” said Gay. “ If that’s all, she’ll get 
over it. Want me to mail our letter, Helen ? ” 

Disconsolately Helen watched the girls trail 
down the steps and through the gate. Anne went 
with them and Helen let her go. The world 
seemed suddenly and unpremeditatedly to have 
turned upside down. Half an hour before all had 
appeared normal and pleasant. Now everything 
was out of plumb and off-color. Just why, it 
would have been hard to say. Grace had not been 
very cross. Five minutes of good-natured chaffing 
would have smoothed out Grace’s wrinkles. Dimly 
Helen was conscious that they had all acted like 
powder to the match of Grace’s temper. Not a 
io6 


AFTERWARD 


quick flash and everything done with. Wet 
powder perhaps, that fizzled and sputtered and 
kept on sputtering. Helen felt a little sick at the 
sense of it. Now F. O. C. would never have any 
more good times. How could they, when one 
girl was jealous? You were jealous yourself last 
fall,” memory reminded her, but Helen refused to 
listen. That was different,” she reflected, and 
besides, I kept it to myself.” Why couldn’t any- 
body else keep it to herself? Gay thought that 
Grace would get over it, but Helen didn’t. Helen 
thought nothing would ever again be quite right 
in the whole universe, whether Grace got over it 
or not. She dropped a tear on the grave of the 
good fellowship that had been and now was spoiled 
forever. 

As a matter of fact Helen was very tired. Not 
indeed physically ; but as the excitement of the 
visit to the hermit ebbed, it left her an easy prey 
to the blues. Too much hermit was what ailed 
Grace and the rest, and they, no more than Helen, 
were aware of it. They too thought the bottom 
had fallen out of their familiar world and they 
were inclined to blame it very severely for not 
staying put. 

Helen carried a long face into the living-room, 
where her mother’s needle was flying back and 
forth in close propinquity to a high-piled mending 
107 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


basket. Helen would have liked to talk to her 
mother, but the twins were also in the room. The 
twins were at the moment engaged in stalking 
bears through a primeval forest satisfactorily rep- 
resented by the spiring legs of several upturned 
chairs. 

Helen almost scowled at the twins, but she 
didnT quite. Feeling very solemn and unhappy, 
she wandered vaguely about the room, resting her 
weight first on one leg and then on the other. It 
was just possible, she thought, that her mother 
would see that something had gone wrong and 
send Ted and Tess away. Mrs. Thayer, however, 
appeared to notice nothing amiss. 

When Helen in her tour of the room again ap- 
proached the table, her mother looked up and 
smiled at her. 

“ If you have nothing else to do for a few min- 
utes, little daughter, I wish you^d look over these 
stockings.’^ 

Helen sat down and began to look them over. 
She didn’t want to, at all. In fact, now that her 
mother had spoken, she could think of a dozen 
things that she would rather do. If she could 

talk But she couldn’t talk of what she desired 

with the twins present, and nothing else seemed 
worth mentioning. Lugubriously Helen threaded 
a needle and dropped the egg ” to the toe of a 
io8 


AFTERWARD 


stocking. It was a horrible hole, as Ted’s usually 
were. The girl desired to jab at it viciously, but 
she knew that holes did not take kindly to jab- 
bing. Slowly back and forth, in and out, went 
her needle, weaving the ragged edges together. 
The work began to interest her ; the steady rhythm 
of the needle soothed her. With her hands busy, 
she forgot for a few minutes to think about her 
thoughts. 

The twins gave over stalking their bear and 
cavorted cheerfully into the circle of lamplight. 

Set the chairs up, dears,” said their mother. 

They set them up and returned, athirst for fresh 
experiences. 

‘‘ Tell us a story, Nell,” begged Tess. 

Yes, tell us a story,” Ted echoed. 

Oh, dear ! ” thought Helen. '' I do wish you’d 
go away.” 

But she didn’t say the words aloud. She looked 
at her mother’s head bent over the swift needle, at 
the mending basket which was never empty, and 
the words she wanted to say stuck in her throat. 

What kind of story, twinnie^ ? ” 

Not a story we’ve ever heard before,” Ted an- 
nounced, composing himself to the business of lis- 
tening. 

A true story ! ” Tess clapped her hands. A 
true story I ” 


109 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


Helen thought a minute, while her needle moved 
more slowly. She did not feel like making up 
stories. All the old stories had flown out of her 
brain, and as for new ones, she hadn’t an idea in her 
head. The twins’ round confldent eyes devoured 
her, as though they expected to see the story 
mapped on her face before she opened her lips. 

“ Once upon a time,” said Helen slowly, “ there 
was a princess who hadn’t any palace. She lost it 
when she was a tiny girl and with it she lost all 
the people that usually go with a princess, like 
kings and queens and princes and other prin- 
cesses. This princess hadn’t any father or mother 
or brothers or sisters. She lived in a little hut on 
the edge of a forest and when she wasn’t busy go- 
ing to school she took care of a baby.” 

Like Judith? ” suggested Tess. 

Ye-e-s, like Judith,” Helen acknowledged. 

Ted dug his elbow into his sister’s ribs. S-s-sh ! 
Let her get on with the story.” 

She wanted a palace very much, but particu- 
larly she wanted the people that go with a palace. 
Who did I say they were ? ” 

King ’n’ queen,” said Ted promptly. 

And princes ’n’ princesses,” Tess added. 

Helen nodded. That’s right. This princess 
knew there wasn’t any chance of her getting her 
own palace back again ” 


no 


AFTERWARD 


Why wasn^t there? '' demanded both twins. 

“ I can’t go into that to-day. There wasn’t. 
You’ll just have to believe it.” 

Reluctantly they assented. “ Tell us to-mor- 
rer ? ” said Ted. 

She knew she couldn’t get her own palace back 
again, but she thought perhaps there might be a pal- 
ace somewhere that had in it everybody else who 
ought to be in a palace, but lacked just one prin- 
cess. So she set out to see. 

^‘She walked and she walked and she walked, but 
at every palace where she stopped to inquire they 
had plenty of princesses. Sometimes they told her 
of a palace where they had heard one princess was 
gone, but when she got to the palace she always 
found either that they had always had their full 
number of princesses or that a new one had just 
come and no more were needed. But she kept on 
walking and she kept on hoping. * For,’ she said 
to herself, ' there must somewhere be a palace that 
needs one more princess. And there might be 
a palace that hadn’t any princesses at all, but 
just princes. Then wouldn’t they be glad to see 
me ! ’ 

So she walked and she walked until she came , 
to a broken down old castle that looked as though 
nobody lived in it. The moat was dried up and 
grasses had grown on the donjon towers and the 
in 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


windows were broken and there was nothing the 
least bit inviting about it. But the princess went 
in because, you see, she was trying every single 
palace she came to. She had promised herself not 
to skip one. 

Now, 1^11 tell you a secret.^' Helen lowered 
her voice. The stocking dropped to her lap, and 
the twins drew nearer. “ A magician lived in the 
castle,” Helen whispered. He had laid a spell 
on it, and that was why the moat looked dried up 
and the grasses waved on the donjon and the 
windows seemed ruined. You know what magi- 
cians can do. But the princess didn’t know it. 
She thought it really was ruined, and she never 
dreamed of the magician. She never dreamed that 
the animals under the walls weren’t made of iron, 
the way they looked, but were real live animals 
that could jump and climb and — and roar, if only 
the magician would let them.” 

“ You never said nothin’ ’bout animals ! ” cried 
Ted. 

No, you never,” Tess corroborated. Was ’er 
a lion ? ” 

Two,” said Helen. Two lions, crouching 
down low, all ready to spring, at the gate.” 

My eye I ” Ted breathed. 

What else ? ” Tess clamored. 

“ S-sh ! She’ll tell us.” 


12 


AFTERWARD 


“ Let me see, there was a deer with antlers on 
his head, great branching ones. And a bear stand- 
ing up on its hind legs just exactly the way it 
stood when the magician cast his spell on the 
palace. And a giraffe, with its long neck going 
up, up, and its head in the trees. There was a 
dog too — the king^s own dog turned to stone just 
outside the king's garden. And the king's 
monkeys — he kept a lot of them because he liked 
to watch them swinging about from bough to bough 
— the monkeys had turned to iron right up in the 
branches and there they were hanging on by their 
tails exactly the way they were hanging the minute 
that the spell fell on them. It was winter at the 
palace. It was always winter. That was part of 
the spell, too. And everything was covered with 
snow and ice, the grasses on the donjon walls, the 
lions and the dog and the monkeys — everything. 
But the worst thing about the palace was the king. 
The magician had taken away his voice and in 
place of it he had given him a roar. The king 
couldn't say anything nicely. He could only roar 
it at the top of his lungs. It was frightful to hear 
him. He would walk through the palace grounds 
all buried in snow and ice and lean over to pat his 
dog — for the king thought the dog liked to be 
patted even if it had turned to iron — and say, 
' Poor doggie I Good fellow ! ' And the best he 

113 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


could do was to make such a noise that if the dog 
hadn’t been iron he would have run away so fast 
the king couldn’t ever have caught him. It was 
dreadful. 

The only way the enchantment could ever be 
lifted,” Helen went on dreamily, was by a prin- 
cess who shouldn’t be afraid even in her heart of 
the dreadful old roaring king. When our princess 
came to this castle, she didn’t like the look of it a 
bit, but as I said, she didn’t think she ought to 
skip any castle. So she walked right in between the 
iron lions and up through the ranks of the beasts. 
She passed the dog and the monkeys and — and 
then she came on the king. He roared at her. 
And what do you think she did ? ” 

Helen gazed for a dramatic moment at the 
speechless twins. 

She laughed at him. Yes, she did. She 
thought it was funny for him to make such a 
noise, and she laughed out loud. The minute she 
laughed the snow and ice began to melt, and the 
dog and the monkeys began to thaw, too. The 
water just poured off their backs. The princess 
laughed again and everywhere you could hear the 
trickle of little brooks, where the melted snow was 
running into the moat. She laughed the third 
time, and the glass flew into the broken windows 
and the animals all stretched themselves and tried 
114 


AFTERWARD 


their legs. Then the king put out his hand and 
his voice when he spoke was gentle and quiet, 
without a bit of a roar. ^ Whose princess are you ? ^ 
he asked. And the princess said sadly, ‘ Pm no- 
body’s princess.’ * Then come and live with me,’ 
said the king, ‘ and be my princess.’ ‘ I will 
gladly,’ said the princess, ^ if you want me.’ The 
king took her hand and they looked out over the 
moat and it was full of water. The castle rose 
strong and splendid above it and everywhere green 
branches were waving and flowers were blooming, 
and the monkeys were chattering in the branches 
of the trees. The dog jumped up on the king and 
licked his hand. And the king and the prin- 
cess lived happily ever after, for the magician 
never troubled them again.” 

The twins meditated. 

** Didn’t the lions eat somebody? ” Ted asked. 
No. They were tame lions.” 

** Huh I ” said Ted. 

Tess flxed her eyes on her sister’s face. Was 
that really a true story ? ” 

Not all of it. Part of it was.” 

“ Which part ? ” 

“ The princess is true,” said Helen, ** and the 
king, and all about the enchanted castle.” 

Were the iron monkeys true ? ” 

Yes, Ted.” 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


“ My, I’d like to see ’em ! Can’t I see ’em ? 
Where are they ? ” 

Within a thousand miles.” 

A thousand miles’s a nawful long ways, ain’t 
it?” 

Don’t say ain’t, Ted.” 

‘‘Judith says it.” 

“ She tries not to.” 

“ Isn’t it a nawful long ways ? ” 

“ Pretty far.” 

“ Maybe it ain’t — isn’t, I mean — a whole thou- 
sand.” 

“ Maybe it’s only a hunderd.” 

“ Maybe it’s five hundred, Tess.” 

“ I don’t like that story very well,” said the 
little sister. “ I like ’em to be all true or all not 
true.” 

“ So do I, Tess.” 

“ I like it well enough,” said Ted. “ Only I’d 
like to know where the lions went. Maybe they 
got away some time ’n’ ate somebody. Tell about 
that.” 

“ Not to-night,” said Helen. “ You set up the 
chairs you were playing with, but you didn’t put 
them where they were before. Suppose you do 
that now.” 

The twins reluctantly set themselves to the 
restoration of complete order in the room.- 

ii6 


AFTERWARD 


Helen sighed. That’s the way it ought to 
come out, mother.” 

“ You mean, dear, that is the way you would 
like to have it come out.” 

Couldn’t it ever — don’t you suppose? ” 

Mrs. Thayer shook her head. I don’t think 
so. Things aren’t apt to happen quite like that in 
this world of ours, daughter.” 

I wish they did,” Helen said. Oh, mother, 
it would do the hermit a world of good to know 
Judith ! ” 

“ I presume it would.” 

Helen brightened. Then perhaps — some 
day ” 

Mrs. Thayer laid down her work and took 
Helen’s hands. Stop it, Nell. Stop imagining. 
There is not the slightest possibility of Mr. French 
and Judith ever superintending together the paint- 
ing of that house. So put it out of your head, 
little daughter. Quick — this minute I ^ Scat ! ’ ” 

Helen caught the twinkle in her mother’s eyes 
and laughed ruefully. I suppose I am silly.” 

Very silly, sometimes. But also very dear. 
And very kind and helpful, as this last hour. Oh, 
I saw — what I saw.” 

‘‘ You see everything, mother.” Helen’s heart 
felt singularly light. “ But I wish ” She re- 

linquished the last iridescent bubble of fancy. 

117 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


“ ril be sensible, mother. But I don^t see how 
anything nice is ever going to happen to Judith.’^ 
“ Whatever happens, Judith will make it nice,^' 
said her mother. 


ii8 


CHAPTER VII 


SAYBKOOK VS. RACEFIELD 

Sometimes Helen feared that nothing whatever 
was going to happen. Nobody seemed at any 
pains to try to make anything happen. With the 
exception of Anne, who was naturally tenacious of 
any purpose which moved her at all, F. O. C. ap- 
peared strangely indifferent. 

Once in a while Helen faced a disconcerting 
suspicion that Judith^s case was beyond even 
F. O. C.^s ministrations. The other girls dodged 
this specter by pretending it did not concern them. 
Not seeing what there was to be done, they elected 
to be happy by doing nothing at all. 

“ WhaPs the use?’^ Grace demanded. ‘‘You 
know perfectly well, Helen Thayer, we canT comb 
the whole state for Frenches and Whites. Anyway, 
I^d rather go coasting. 

“ Me too,’* said Gay. “ And play basket-ball. 
Three o’clock sharp to-morrow afternoon, Helen. 
We must get busy if we want to beat any team 
that comes against us.’* 

“ Who’s coming against us ? ** Mary Tracy in- 
quired. 

119 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


Racefield is talking of it” 

Really?^’ 

Estelle knows a girl on the Racefield High's 
team, and she says they’d like to play us some 
afternoon, if we’re willing.” 

Well, we are willing, aren’t we ? ” 

Gay grinned. I am, Sally.” 

Oh, dear 1 ” said Grace. I wish I hadn’t cut 
practice so much this winter.” 

You don’t wish it any more than I do, Gracie.” 

I never dreamed,” Grace mourned, that they’d 
ever let us play Racefield.” 

“ An afternoon game. Admission by ticket for 
invited guests. Those are the terms,” said Gay. 

I saw Mr. Hershey myself this morning.” 

Goodness, I hope our team wins I ” Sally ex- 
claimed. 

Of course we’ll win,” Grace reproved her. 
‘^What are you talking about? Who else could 
win ? ” 

“ Nobody,” said Estelle. The Racefield team 
is good, though. They have a crackerj^ck of a 
goal thrower, Bess says.” 

What’s the matter with Helen ? ” 

Oh, I’m no crackerjack. I wish I were. 
Maybe I won't be on the team at all. Plenty of 
girls ” 

Throw just as good baskets as you do,” Gay 
120 


SAT BROOK VS. RACEFIELD 


interrupted her. “ That’s what you started to say, 
Helen, and it isn’t true. Plenty of ’em don’t.” 

May Rhodes ” began Helen. 

May Rhodes is a dandy goal thrower,” Gay 
agreed. 

What I That little red-haired thing ? ” 

‘ That little red-haired thing ’ is a perfect 
streak of lightning when it comes to basket-ball, 
Grade.” 

‘‘ Her hair isn’t so very red,” Estelle ventured. 

In some lights it is almost brown.” 

Spud here isn’t slow herself,” Sally remarked. 

I’ve watched her.” 

Gay grinned. “ All of which goes to prove that 
Racefield hasn’t a chance against us — capital U, 
capital S.” 

‘^Do you mean you think they will beat us. Gay?” 

The mighty thought I am trying to communi- 
cate, Anne, is that I don’t know anything about it, 
and can’t guess.” 

Well, I know,” said Grace. We’re not going 
to let ’em.” 

Bravo ! ” Estelle and Sally clapped their hands. 

If noise will help, we’ll furnish it,” they 
promised. 

You will have to get up the snappiest songs 
that were ever heard of and sing ’em at the game. 
That’s where the audience is coming in,” said Gay. 

I2I 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 

“ Racefield has a lot of songs already,” Estelle 
volunteered. Bess told me so. She^s the girl I 
know on their team. They play Maywood to- 
morrow.” 

They’ll be veterans, won’t they ? ” 

Something pretty near it, Sally.” 

Oh, well, we won’t let ’em down us, no matter 
how many teams they’ve played,” Grace cried. 

I’m coming to the practice to-morrow. Gay.” 

All right. Come and give us something to 
play against.” 

I’ll come too,” said Sally. Want me to 
coach ? ” 

Just as you like.” 

We’ll all be there,” Estelle said, ** and tell you 
what we think of our chances.” 

Stop ! ” Grace cried. I don’t want to hear 
anybody say anything like that again. We’re 
going to win. Don’t you know we are going to 
win? ” 

“ Beg pardon, Gracie. I meant we’ll decide by 
how much of a margin Gay is going to beat the 
Racefield team.” 

That’s better,” Grace told her. Nobody 
seemed to remember, Grace least of all, that she 
had ever been cross. 

But it was only too evident that F. O. C. had 
lost interest in the search for Judith’s great-uncle. 

122 


SATBROOK VS, RACEFIELD 


That showed in every word and gesture. The girls 
took up this new enthusiasm as whole-heartedly 
as did Judith herself. 

'' A basket-ball game ? Sure, I'll be there, if I 
have to take Johnny along too. He'd like it, 
wouldn't he?" 

“We will have Johnny for a mascot!" Gay 
cried. 

Judith's grin spread from ear to ear. “ Mascot? 
I don't know what a mascot is, but if it don't 
hurt, you can have him. I guess Johnny'd like 
being a mascot as well as the next boy. He's a 
spunky little tyke, Johnny is." 

“ She doesn't seem to care," Anne mourned to 
Helen afterward. “ But she knows about the 
hermit. I told her." 

“ So did I," said Helen. “ I guess she is glad 
we didn't find him for her uncle." 

Anne nodded. “ So she said. ^ I'd rather have 
Johnny any day, Anne.' I remember the exact 
words." 

“ I suppose," Helen thought aloud, “ I suppose 
we might as well try Gay's way and let the uncle 
come of himself." 

“ If we do not watch for him, how shall we 
know if he does come ? He might go by and no- 
body know it was he." 

“That is so," Helen acknowledged, “but 

123 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 

Oh, dear ! We can^t make the girls stay in- 
terested.” 

Anne turned her obstinate little chin full on her 
chum. “Why don^t they stay interested ? They 
were interested. Why donT they stay so ? ” 

“ I donT know,” Helen returned weakly. “ I 
suppose it’s because there doesn’t seem to be any- 
thing to do now. Can you think of anything to 
do?” 

Anne shook her head. 

“ Then I’m going to learn to steer a bob-sled. 
Harry said he’d show me this afternoon.” 

Steering a bob-sled, Helen decided, was quite as 
much fun as she thought it would be, though it 
kept her so busy that she found less attention than 
ever to bestow on her delightful sensations. Be- 
tween the top of the hill and the bottom she had 
to keep her eyes open and her hands steady. 
Should she stop for a second to think of anything 
except the course she was following, something 
would be sure to go wrong. The possibility of 
running violently askew and spilling herself and 
Harry into the ditch was always present in the 
corner of her brain to encourage concentration. 
But she got what she wanted, the sensation of fly- 
ing down-hill with nobody’s back to break the 
sweep of the road before her. 

She also got the chance to help pull the bob-sled 
124 


SAT BROOK VS. RACEFIELD 


up-hill, and this too pleased her for a while. When 
it ceased to amuse, she continued to tug uncom- 
plainingly. About that time Harry was giving 
her mind too much to think of for her to notice 
what her body was doing. 

Say, do you call it square, the way you’re 
treating me ? ” he began. 

‘‘I?” 

Yes, you.” 

Helen regarded the boy with astonished eyes. 

But I haven’t done anything at all ! ” 

That’s just the trouble — what you haven’t 
done.” 

I don’t know what you’re talking about, 
Harry.” 

Knowles didn’t say anything about a place 
over in Maywood. Knowles didn’t know anybody 
round here named French — isn’t that so? But 
Grace Howe tells Knowles on Saturday night what 
happened over in Maywood on Saturday after- 
noon.” 

“ Oh 1 ” said Helen. Oh ! ” Her inflections 
spoke volumes. 

Now I guess you see.” 

I see what you are talking about, but I don’t 
see why I should have told you. Grace hadn’t 
any business to tell Phil Knowles.” 

Harry waived the point. Didn’t you say 
125 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 

as soon as there was anything to tell you’d tell 
me ? ” 

“ Ye-e-s. But there wasn’t anything to tell. I 
mean ” 

No, there wasn’t. Nothing at all except seeing 

the hermit and talking back to him and ” 

Harry chuckled. Wisht I’d seen you three scoot 
down that hill I ” 

'' I don’t I ” Helen blushed painfully. She 
could not yet laugh about the flight as Gay did. 

Harry noted the blush and interpreted it as a 
heroine’s flush of modesty. You three were all 
right,” he assured her. All right. Say, did 
Anne Alden really stamp her foot at him ? ” 

** Did Grace say that ? ” 

She sure did.” 

“ Yes,” Helen acknowledged, Anne stamped 
her foot.” 

“ Tell a fellow, can’t you ? What makes you so 
close-mouthed ? ” 

Helen thought a minute. I didn’t mean not 
to play fair, Harry,” she said. “ I honestly never 

thought I could tell you without But as long 

as Grace told Phil, I guess it’s all right. Only you 
will keep it just as quiet as you can, won’t you ? ” 

Harry promised and Helen told her tale. She 
told it simply without Gay’s embellishments, and 
with certain important omissions. She did not 
126 


SATBROOK VS. RACEFIELD 


mention what question Anne had put to the 
hermit. 

When she finished Harry addressed the universe. 

I^d have given a lot to have seen it.^^ 

Helen lifted her gaze to his. It was heavy with 
the pang of that unforgettable flight. Oh, Harry, 
I wouldn^t mind anything if we hadn’t run 
away I ” 

What’d you care ? I’ll bet there aren’t any 
other three girls in town who’d have stayed as long 
as you did I I’ll bet ” — conviction swept him on 
— “ I’ll bet there aren’t any three fellows who’d 
have stayed longer.” 

Helen walked on, comforted. Harry’s evident 
admiration warmed her. She wondered what he 
would have said if she had not run. She was not 
old enough to know that he liked her better for 
having run. 

What Harry said next brought her abruptly to 
earth again. 

^^Say, what made you girls go to see that 
hermit?” 

Oh, we wanted to.” 

'' Curiosity ? ” 

We were curious enough.” 

Now you’re hedging. What was the question 
Anne asked him ? ” 

It had come at last. 


127 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


“ Did Grace tell Phil what Anne asked him ? ” 

Harry scratched his head. Let me see, what 
did she say about that ? 

If Grace had told, Harry would have had no 
difficulty in remembering. Helen turned frankly 
on him. “ That’s a secret, Harry,” she said. ‘‘ I 
can’t tell you. That’s why I didn’t tell you before 
about our going to see the hermit. I couldn’t tell 
you the reason. The whole point’s in the reason. 
But I’ll tell you this. It didn’t work out as we 
hoped it would. We were — disappointed.” 

‘‘ Old codger didn’t turn out to be the fellow you 
took him for? ” 

Helen jumped. “ What makes you say that ? ” 

“ ’Twon’t hurt anybody to say it, I guess. Look 
here, want me to root out some more Frenches for 
you? ” 

No, thank you. I’m awfully obliged, but — 

but Well, I don’t believe it would do us any 

good to know about them now. We’re going to — 
to let things happen of themselves for a while.” 
Despondency was in her voice. 

“ All right,” Harry said. '' Any time you want 
the fellows to cut in and help, just let me know.” 

His willingness made it impossible not to imag- 
ine that some time there would be a chance for the 
fellows to help, and Helen’s spirits lightened. 
Not that she wanted help ; what she wanted w*as 
128 


SATBROOK VS. RACEFIELD 

something definite to look forward to. Harry^s 
tone implied that it waited around the corner, so 
to speak, and the tone, fully as much as the words, 
cheered her. 

Moreover, it was exceedingly hard for Helenas 
despondency to withstand the fortnight that 
opened before her. She could never remember 
her woes when her hands touched a basket-ball. 
Anne did not play. The fact that Anne cared 
nothing for the game always remained a mystery 
to Helen. Gay delighted in it, and the squad of 
high school girls who played basket-ball in the 
gymnasium improvised from a big brick barn had 
chosen Gay as captain of “ the team.^^ Who be- 
sides Gay would secure places among the five 
chosen to do battle for their school still remained 
an unsettled problem in the captain’s mind. Grace 
was out of the running from lack of practice, and 
Mary Tracy and Helen were the only possibilities 
in the ranks of F. O. C. Beyond F. O. C. a few 
lights emerged, shining more or less dimly. May 
Rhodes was one of the brighter luminaries. Gay 
had no intention of putting any girl on the team 
or keeping any girl off, simply for the reason that 
she was a friend of hers. Sport and friendship 
with Gay were two entirely different propositions. 

** It doesn’t matter whether you like somebody 
or not,” she told the girls gathered on the gymna- 
129 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


sium floor, “you can play with her just the same. 
It’s how well she plays that counts in basket-ball, 
not how fond she is of you. I’ll tell you right 
now that you people did a rash thing in putting 
me in to run this basket-ball business. You’ll 
want to throw me out a dozen times before the 
game is played. Maybe you’ll want to mob me 
to-night. But I’ve done the best I knew how in 
picking the team and, if I’ve made mistakes, and I 
presume I have, it’s because I didn’t know enough 
not to. Whoever picked the team, you’d think 
was blind in both eyes, so it might as well be 
G. Flint. Now I’m going to read you the names, 
and then we’ll line up against a second team that 
is mighty near as good as the first. Those of you 
who aren’t satisfied can just buck up in your play 
and knock a few of the rest of us off the first team 
into the second before we have another game. 
Why yes, Gracie, I’m expecting to play a game at 
Racefield with Racefield some day. Aren’t you? 
Now this is the team that’s to play Racefield next 
week. I’ll not apologize for being on it myself. 
Center, Gay Flint. Forwards, May Rhodes and 
Helen Thayer. Guards, Spud Tracy and Jane 
Larkins.” 

Helen, straining her ears for the names, felt the 
blood rush into her face as her name was read. 
She had wanted to hear it, but had feared as much 
130 


SAT BROOK VS. RAC EF I ELD 


as she had hoped. Now she looked across the 
floor to the “ little red-headed thing and smiled 
happily. May Rhodes smiled back. May Rhodes 
liked to play quite as well as did Helen. 

I was sure of you/^ Helen said to her as they 
lined up. 

‘‘ I wasn^t/' May Rhodes told her. But I 
knew you^d get on.” 

“ It scares me to think of next week,” said 
Helen. 

^‘Then don't think,” returned May Rhodes. 
“ I'm trying not to. Does anybody know how 
they play ? ” 

** Estelle Lawrence has a friend who says they've 
got a dandy goal thrower,” Helen remarked. 

That looks bad,” the red-haired girl said. 
“ We're none of us sure. Oh, we make a basket 

now and then, enough to look decent, but ” 

Get ready to play,” Gay called. Throw up 
the ball and call fouls, will you, Sally ? I expect 
they have a regular coach at Racefield.” 

Yes, they have,” said Estelle. 

*^You call fouls too, Estelle. Now, everybody 
get busy and do your best.” 

It was impossible to resist the tide of enthusiasm 
that swept over the high school girls in the follow- 
ing fortnight. Helen did not try to resist it. She 
let it bear her up out of the depths of disappoint- 

131 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


ment and chagrin into which the hermit episode 
had cast her and float her high on a flood of joy- 
ful anticipation. That the home team might not 
win she acknowledged with her lips ; more than 
once in speech with her fellows Helen waxed elo- 
quent on the subject of avoiding over-confldence. 
As a matter of fact in her deepest soul, quite 
unrecognized for what it was by Helen herself, the 
certainty remained that Racefleld would be beaten. 
In her day-dreams, and in the midst of her busy-ness 
Helen found moments for day-dreams, the fate of 
the game long hung uncertain, but in the end 
victory invariably perched on Gay^s banners. 

And she was busy. There was a costume to be 
made, since Gay’s team had voted to appear all in 
white with the school red for its only color. There 
were songs to be heard and approved ; now and 
then there was a halting line to be put straight, 
when her aid was besought by a worried author. 
There were half-hours in the gymnasium-barn 
while Helen and May Rhodes took turns throwing 
— or missing — the basket. Moreover, school con- 
tinued with maddening regularity. 

The teachers act,” Grace complained, as 
though they thought we had nothing to do but 
learn the lessons they give out. I don’t believe 
they know there’s to be any game at all.” 

Oh, yes, they do,” Gay assured her. ‘‘ Mr. 
132 


SATBROOK VS. RACEFIELD 


Staples has a test in his mind for the day after. 
Just wait and see.'^ 

Gay was wrong about the date. Mr. Staples an- 
nounced the test for the day itself. 

Just as if we hadn^t anything on our minds 
but his old Catiline 1 Estelle wailed. 

“ Oh, well, well live through it,’^ said Gay. 

Helen groaned with the rest, but when the day 
approached, to her amazement she found herself 
almost glad of the test. It kept her mind off the 
game. The nearer it came the more fearful of it 
Helen grew. It was actually a relief to put her 
mind on Catiline and see how long she could keep 
it there. That in itself made a kind of game and 
Helen played it obstinately. 

Then the day itself. The test passed, and every- 
body was alive afterward, though not all were 
happy. Dinner went by in a kind of fevered 
dream. In a dream Helen dressed and Anne 
stopped for her and they walked to the gymnasium 
together. Helenas hands were dry and hot and 
her tongue felt parched. 

Oh, Anne 1 '' she said, I — I^m scared.^^ 

Why ? asked Anne curiously. It’s only a 
game.” 

“ Afterward maybe you’ll see why,” Helen told 
her. 

Afterward Anne saw. 

133 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


The nerves of the girls in the dressing room 
drew taut as a stretched rope. May Rhodeses cheeks 
were so pale that her freckles showed like a fine 
dust sprinkled on her skin. Jane Larkins laughed 
incessantly. Helenas shaking fingers fumbled at 
the hooks of her skirt until she wondered whether 
she should ever get it oflf. Mary Tracy was un- 
wontedly silent. Gay talked a little too much in 
the extravagant style Gay affected in moments of 
exhilaration. 

I wish it were over/^ May Rhodes murmured to 
Helen. 

She nodded. “ Did you suppose it was going to 
be like this?^^ 

Not I. I thought it would be fun.’^ 

‘‘ It isn’t fun.^^ 

** Cheer up ! Gay addressed them. ** The other 
team is feeling just as bad.’^ 

“ TheyVe played before.^' 

** That doesnT make any difference. Youll get 
over it when you begin to play.^’ 

“ If I could only be sure of that I May whis- 
pered. 

Grace bounced into the room. 

** Oh ! Oh I You cuties I Line up and let me 
look at you. Racefield wonT be half as good- 
looking as you. I’ll tell you that right now.’’ 

“ Pretty is as pretty plays,” remarked Mary. 

134 


SArBROOK VS, RACEFIELD 


Nevertheless, the temperature of the room 
moderated slightly. Each of the five surveyed 
the four white figures within her line of vision and 
even in her misery realized that the effect was 
undeniably pleasing. 

Gay swept Grace an extravagant bow. 

** It's some consolation to look pretty," she an- 
nounced. Allow me. Miss Howe, to tender you 
the grateful appreciation of the Saybrook High's 
embattled bunch of basket-bailers, and to assure 
you of our intention to live up to the standard set 
by our clothes. They may shine less dazzlingly a 
little later in the day, but we trust they'll be cov- 
ered with glory as well as grime. Where's our 
mascot ? " 

‘^Judith's finishing him. We didn't want to 
get him fixed too soon lest he should spoil him- 
self." 

Are the Racefield girls ready ? " 

I think so. Their bunch up-stairs is ready, 
anyway. Talk about banners ! They brought 
along one big enough to wrap the barn in. It's 
stuck up on the wall on their side. Twenty of 'em. 
Good bunch. And they can sing. They " 

Gay brushed by the garrulous Grace. Through 
the door left open behind her descended from the 
floor above a sound of chanting, strongly accented, 
booming rhythmically. It brought into their 

135 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


throats the hearts of the four white-suited figures 
that remained. It quickened the pulse of one, 
lifting her head with a swift zest of conflict; it 
douched another with alternate waves of heat and 
cold ; steadied the nerves of a third ; flurried a 
fourth. 

Gay was again in the room, her back to 
the door ; the captain, cool, commanding, quiet. 
^‘Now remember what IVe told you over and 
over ; no gallery plays. Team work. Keep in 
mind youVe five parts of one team. One team. 
If anybody tries to be the whole show. 111 put her 
off the floor and use a substitute. Donl play like 
five — play like one, but each of you remember 
that you're not that one. You're a fifth of one. 
Now come on out and meet the Racefield girls." 

A minute later the five stood eye to eye with 
their opponents. Silently each team measured the 
other, while tongues murmured names and ex- 
changed unheeded greetings. “ Such fun you 
could come ! " It's so jolly to play with girls we 
don't know." I suppose you have a better place 
than this. It's rather funny, because it used to 
be a barn." ^‘Are you guard? I'm a forward. 
I wonder " 

Feet ascending the crooked stairs. A growing 
din racketing out from the main floor fringed with 
its clamorous spectators protected by netting from 
136 


SATBROOK VS. RACEFIELD 

the playing field. A group of blue-suited figures 
tugging to hold back a straining dog, as they swept 
out on the empty fioor. A cheer that dwarfed 
previous cheers. A song that rose, snappy and 
sharp — 

“Eacefield, Eacefield, 

Watch the game we play. 

For it^s the team of Eacefield 
Will surely win the day. 

Eacefield, Eacefield, 

Dashing, sure, and fleet. 

So raise a cheer for Eacefield, 

The team that can^t be beat.’^ 

And then Helen, her heart pounding, felt her- 
self moving mechanically out into that vast empty 
space, which wasn^t at all vast, as she very well 
knew in ordinary moments, but which now looked 
illimitable to her nervous eyes. Five red ribbons 
ran forward from an entrancing little red cart in 
which sat Johnny, his fat arms trying vainly to 
circle a sphere of pigskin, his bright black eyes 
vainly trying to see over its top, his happy baby 
chuckle gurgling up like a hidden rivulet of joy 
from underneath. The end of one of the red 
ribbons rested in Helenas hand. The ends of the 
other four were clutched by her team-mates. 

They made a captivating picture as they ran on 
the fioor drawing the merry baby, the five piquant 
figures clothed in spotless white from the flare of 

137 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


their caps to the flat of their shoes, relieved only 
by the red lacings of their jumpers and the rosettes 
of red at their knees. A little a-a-h of delight 
met them. Then the home supporters rose to their 
feet and inundated their dainty champions and 
quenched Johnny^s blithe chuckle with a torrent 
of song. 

‘‘Come, come, here they come, 

Saybrook takes the floor. 

Gay, May, Spud, Helen, Jane, 

Oh, they’ll pile up the score. 
^Eah-rah-rah-rah-rah ! 

Lift the cheer along. 

Soon you’ll hear while Saybrook 
Shouts its victory song. ” 

Gay removed the ball from Johnny’s person, 
and while Judith proudly bore the mascot to a 
place of safety behind the sheltering netting and 
quick hands retired the cart. Gay snapped the ball 
to Spud, Spud passed it to Helen, and Helen, 
turning, lifted it in a swift curve toward the 
nearest basket. The ball dropped through the 
white meshes and a cheer rose from the watching 
walls. The ball zigzagged again in practice down 
the floor. Helen’s eyes followed its passage. The 
minute her hands closed on its grimy surface 
trepidation had left her. She was quiet, cool, 
steady. 


138 


CHAPTER VIII 


A GAME AND WHAT CAME OF IT 

Don’t look at the audience,” Gay had told her 
team. Watch the ball — follow that.” 

For j ust one minute Helen forgot. There seemed 
to be at that minute nothing else particularly 
worth doing. The visitors were warming up with 
the ball and the spectators were making a great 
deal of noise. It would, of course, be silly not to 
look at them — just once. But Helen wished she 
hadn’t. It made her feel queer again — queerer 
than she had felt before. Hastily she turned her 
eyes back to the Racefield team. How deftly and 
easily they passed ! How skilfully they shot those 
long sure goals I How workmanlike they looked 
in their trim blue suits ! Helen smoothed her 
own white knees nervously. She knew she was 
‘^cute”; hadn’t Grace said so? She hoped, oh 
how she hoped, she could play. If they would 
only begin and give her something to do. And 
let that blessed ball take away once more this 
palpitating expectancy. 

The Racefield captain won the toss and chose 

139 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


the north basket. It happened to be Helenas 
favorite, and she had hoped to begin the game 
under its friendly auspices. Never mind, it would 
fall to her lot next half. She walked quietly to 
the post of right forward. There stood a small 
pigtailed girl with dreamy blue eyes and a square 
chin. Helen and the pigtailed girl took stock of 
each other under cover of a nod of greeting. Pig- 
tail put out her hand and the two shook with 
grave ceremony. 

In the middle of the floor the referee waited, ball 
in hand. The two centers faced each other, poised 
for the jump. Gay's head towered above the Race- 
fleld player's. Gay, Helen reflected, need not 
jump very far ; the ball could not fail to go whither 
she chose to bat it. The songs had fallen silent 
around the hall; the spectators were leaning 
forward in hushed anticipation. Helen felt them, 
though she looked no more. Then their presence 
faded from her consciousness, as the ball rose in 
the center. The referee's whistle cut the stillness 
and the ball dropped. 

Gay cuffed it to Helen. Helen's hands closed 
lovingly about its gritty skin. She wheeled on 
one foot and shot for the home goal. The right 
hand wall arose and jigged dizzily up and down. 
It stamped and clapped and shouted. It wrenched 
red streamers from parallel bars and waved them 
140 


A GAME AND tVHAT CAME OF IT 


feverishly. It rioted in a frenzy of joy. The 
home team had scored in the first minute of play. 
Saybrook spirits soared. 

Helen stooped to tie a shoe lace. It did not need 
tying, but she must do something with this din in 
her ears. 

‘‘ Rah, rah, rah ! Thayer, Thayer ^ Thayer ! ” 

‘‘ Oh, Helen, bully for you ! 

The girl did not glance toward the sounds. She 
felt happy and shy and elated and afraid, all 
together. 

“ Good shot,’^ said the pigtailed girl, and smiled. 

Thank you,*^ Helen smiled back. 

The referee lifted her hand for silence and the 
ball went up again in the center. Again Gay 
struck it sharply toward her right forward. But 
now between Helen and the pigskin interposed a 
swift body. The dreamy-eyed girl jumped with 
palm uplifted, rapped the ball down smartly out 
of the air, shot it behind her, darted forward,' 
received it again, and before Saybrook knew what 
had happened the ball was zigzagging quietly 
down the field toward the visitors’ goal. In vain 
Gay reached for it ; in vain Spud ducked for it. 
The ball was never at a given moment quite where, 
apparently, at that very moment it had been going 
to be. Racefield’s left forward swung it above her 
head, while in front of her Jane Larkins executed 
141 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 

a superior imitation of a windmill under the 
influence of a cyclone. But the ball went in. It 
swept to the basket like a homing bird and with- 
out a second’s doubt dropped through. 

The yellow supporters arose in their turn and 
endeavored to express how they felt about it. 

Helen smiled at the pigtailed girl. That was 
a splendid play.” 

The pigtailed girl smiled back. 

This time,” Helen said to herself, she shall 
not jump in like that.” 

But this time Gay did not strike into Helen’s 
territory. Gay felt that a change was desirable 
and aimed for May Rhodes. May had her own 
ideas in regard to the proper course of the ball 
after it left Gay’s hand, but so, as it proved, had 
May’s guard. May’s guard frustrated her inten- 
tions, and Racefleld again superintended the ball’s 
progress down the field. When the visitors had it 
exactly where they wanted it, somebody put it in 
the basket. 

The yellow wall made everybody aware of the 
fact that this was what it had come expecting to 
witness. The Saybrook team looked surprised. 

Helen smiled, but said nothing. 

The whistle shrilled and Gay gave May Rhodes 
another chance. It looked to the Racefleld guard 
like her chance, and she proceeded to make it hers. 

142 


A GAME AND WHAT CAME OF IT 


The other four Racefield players took up the 
guard^s pass and continued to pass as uninterrupt- 
edly as though they had the field to themselves. 
At the end of the pass somebody threw a goal. It 
appeared to be the custom. 

Helen smiled at the pigtailed girl. It was not 
a hilariously happy smile. A smile cannot be 
particularly hilarious when you are conscious of a 
sickening sensation in your chest. The fact was, 
Helen did not know how to stop smiling. She 
had begun the game with a smile. If she ceased 
to smile the dreamy-eyed girl would see that she 
didn’t like being beaten, and it was bad enough to 
be beaten without knowing that other people knew 
how bad you were finding it. To let them see 
would be unendurable. 

Gay tried Helen again. Helen caught the sig- 
nal and fell back negligently. Then she jumped. 
Dreamy-Eyes jumped quicker and did all and 
more than all that she had done before. 

The score stood eight to two. 

You seem to know how to play,” Helen said 
steadily. There was a lump in her throat, but she 
spoke the words clearly. 

‘‘ Thank you,” said her guard modestly. 

But now Gay decided that Racefield must work 
harder if it would add points to its score. Gay 
had been learning the ways of Racefield within the 

143 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


last ten minutes of play, and what Gay learned 
she always liked to practice. Helen, too, had been 
making up her mind to a white-hot point of de- 
termination. The girl with the dreamy eyes should 
not lay hands on the next ball that came their way. 
And she didn't. Helen snapped it from under 
her very nose, threw it to Gay and dropped back 
toward the home goal. Gay tried an overhead 
pass. Dreamy-Eyes shot up like a Jack-in-the-box 
and stopped it. Then the machine began again. 
Saybrook groaned. But Gay was in action now. 
Gay's long brown hands played the mischief with 
the machine. Saybrook took heart of grace. 

They're getting into the game again," said the 
red wall. The yellow wall waited confidently. 

Spud also was getting into the game. Spud had 
a quiet way of sizing up an opponent. After a 
girl had played for ten minutes there was very 
little in that girl's style of play that Spud did not 
know about. Spud's opponent began to find this 
out now. She began to suspect a determination on 
Spud's part to let her make no more goals. The 
suspicion was perfectly well founded. The Race- 
field forward's counter-determination to frustrate 
Spud's plan was less so. Spud was a person diflS- 
cult to dodge and impossible to outrun. Little, 
and quick as a spider, she was always first at the 
ball. Moreover, Spud had discovered that the 
144 


A GAME AND WHAT CAME OF IT 


Racefield forward was not equally adroit at swing- 
ing to right and to left. She preferred to make a 
catch on the right. Thereafter Spud forced her to 
do it on the left, or else high in the air. Spud's 
opponent was half a head taller than Spud and 
Racefield found it wise in her case to abandon low 
balls for high. Sometimes the machine, in the 
moments of smooth going still left to it, swerved 
altogether from Spud's territory. The easier road 
to the visitors' basket lay through Jane Larkins. 

Jane did her best, but Jane had neither Spud's 
head nor Spud's uncanny quickness and certainty 
of hand. Jane sometimes fumbled. Spud, never. 
Racefield learned this and endeavored to turn its 
information to practical account. In the effort the 
visitors encountered Gay again. Having mastered 
the devious ways of her own opponent. Gay under- 
took to reinforce Jane. This gave her plenty to 
do, but she liked it. 

In spite of Saybrook's best efforts, Racefield put 
in two more balls. May Rhodes put in one. The 
first half ended with a score of twelve to four. 

“ There's no use talking," Jane Larkins said 
gloomily. We’re beaten already.” 

Never say that till the game's over,” Spud 
urged. 

What if we are beaten ? ” May Rhodes de- 
manded. “ I don't feel half as bad about it as I 

145 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


thought I should. We can make ^em work hard 
for their victory.” 

The team, sucking lemons assiduously, nodded 
with emphasis. 

“ That's the talk,” said Gay. Buck up, girls, 
and lead 'em a life this half. Smash their old pass 
system. It's their team work that's put the score 
where it is now. Team for team, they haven't as 
good single players as we have, but they play 
right into each other's hands. If we could do that, 
I'd show 'em I ” 

Helen hugged her knees. ** I don't think 
Estelle's friend is so very good.” 

Reason why,” chuckled Gay. Spud here 
won't let her show off.” 

I know how she feels.” Helen's sigh came 
from shoes that were now no longer white. “ That 
girl with pigtails is in my way every minute. She 
sticks like a burr, and I can't shake her.” 

Just here Grace and Estelle appeared and fell 
upon the team with open arms. 

My, but we're proud of the way you're stand- 
ing up to them ! ” 

If you could }ust put in a few more goals ” 

They expected a walkover after the first five 
minutes. Thought you'd gone all to pieces. 
Every time Bess reaches for that ball and it isn't 
there, I could hug you, Spuddy ! ” 

146 



“we can make ’em work hard 









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A GAME AND WHAT CAME OF IT 

They’re a pretty fine team, Stella.” 

Oh, they are. Gay. But they’re getting a 
surprise. Surprises are good for people.” 

“ We got a surprise all right. They’re outplay- 
ing us.” 

They’re not, either ! ” Grace cried. I mean, 
don’t let them. Everybody can see how much 
more practice they’ve had, of course — loads more. 
They’ve had a coach and we haven’t. They 
know ” 

Gay cut in. ‘‘ The team’s going to take what’s 
coming to us, Gracie, without squealing. See that 
you girls do the same. They are a better team, 
and you might as well say so squarely, without 
hedging. If there’s one thing I hate it is to hear 
people always making excuses. The fact is. Race- 
field has got us, if not where they want us, at least 
where we don’t want to be. We’ll do the best we 
can for you in this next half, but we couldn’t 
promise to beat that bunch without more practice, 
if our lives depended on it.” 

You don’t mean. Gay Flint,” Grace ejaculated, 
that you have told our team we can’t win I 
That’s a funny thing to do.” 

I’m telling ’em,” Gay returned calmly, that 
we can’t win without playing better than we’ve 
played yet. Oh, there’s a chance. There’s always 
a chance. A game is never won till it’s done. 

147 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


But the thing for us to fight for is to keep their 
score down. Another day Well, we’ll see.” 

The hearts of the team steadied under this plain 
speaking. If their last golden dream of a miracu- 
lous winning score were shattered by it, they 
acquired at the same time a definite program 
within their reach. 

The Racefield team seemed also to have acquired 
something. Their determined air as they took the 
floor again would have worried less stubborn 
opponents. But Saybrook had gone through its 
baptism of publicity. It had learned the sight, 
touch, taste, hearing of an audience. It was now 
ready to concentrate its attention entirely on its 
play. 

'' That girl,” Helen said to herself, as she took 
her place under her favorite basket, is not going 
to get any more of the balls Gay means for me.” 

That girl’s ” chin indicated that there might 
be two opinions about this. Helen’s triumphed 
first. Her hands closed on the ball Gay batted 
toward the home goal. Too well guarded to risk 
a shot for the basket, she returned the ball to Gay 
and feinted a run to the right. Dreamy-Eyes 
sprang back a second too late ; the ball was safe 
again in Helen’s hands. But it missed the basket. 
That gave May Rhodes’s guard a chance to capture 
it. She sped it toward Dreamy-Eyes, but Helen 
148 


A GAME AND WHAT CAME OF IT 


intercepted the pass and shot the ball to May. 
This play was not down on the program of May’s 
guard, who for half a second was caught napping. 
In that half second May lifted the ball home. 

Once more the ball went up in the center. 
Saybrook attempted to repeat its performance, but 
Dreamy-Eyes interrupted the return from Gay to 
Helen and tried a trick on her own account. She 
feinted to snap to May’s guard and suddenly tossed 
the ball behind her into space that became magically 
occupied by the Racefield center. Gay, deluded 
for an instant, turned to see the ball leave her 
opponent’s hands. Instantly Gay was in motion. 
The trouble was, she could not put herself out of 
action as quickly as she had got in. 

** Foul on Saybrook for running with the ball.” 

Racefield missed the free throw, but Spud’s 
opponent thought to make up for it by a goal 
from the field. Both girls jumped. 

Tie ball,” said the umpire. 

The Racefield forward batted smartly toward 
her team-mate, but here Jane Larkins became 
busy. Jane was beginning to get warmed up,” 
as she put it. From Jane the ball traveled toward 
Gay. Before it reached her Racefield dashed in. 
In the brisk mSlee that ensued Jane captured it 
again and tried an overhead pass. Racefield 
jumped, but Gay’s long arms had the ball safe. 

149 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 

May Rhodes missed the goal and the pigskin 
started back once more toward the visitors’ basket. 
Racefield fouled and Gay handed the ball to 
Helen. 

‘‘ You try it.” 

Helen took her place on the fifteen foot line and 
poised the ball in her hands. She held it lightly, 
breast high, carelessly as it seemed, the tips of her 
fingers pressing its leather sides. A sudden twist 
of her wrists and the ball sped upward and settled, 
to the din of a jubilant astonished shout, into the 
basket. 

I didn’t think it was going in,” said the pig- 
tailed girl under cover of the noise. “ Nobody 
did. How on earth did you do it ? ” 

‘‘Why I ” Helen began. Then she jumped 

for the ball and snapped it to Gay. The next 
thing she knew, she and Dreamy-Eyes and the ball 
were wound up together in a mysterious knot. 

“ Tie ball I ” reiterated the umpire. 

Dreamy-Eyes batted it. Helen had known she 
would. But Gay’s hands closed on it and in the 
next minute May Rhodes had thrown a goal. 

The Say brook supporters were jubilant. Twelve 
to nine, and ten minutes more to play. They saw 
rainbows. 

But now Racefield managed to put the machine 
in motion again. Perhaps for a few minutes Say- 
150 


A GAME AND WHAT CAME OF IT 


brook relaxed the desperation of its defense. Per- 
haps no defense of Saybrook^s could have withstood 
Racefield. Whatever the reason, the visitors made 
two more goals while Say brook darted and jumped 
and lunged and grabbed and wondered why its 
agility was all to no purpose. 

On the next toss-up May Rhodes got the ball 
straight from Gay^s hand, but lost it in a try for 
the basket. Saybrook fouled again and this time 
Racefield made its goal by the hands of Spud^s 
opponent. For two precious succeeding minutes 
the ball appeared unable to stay with either school 
for more than five seconds. It sped erratically 
back and forth while the sands of the game ran 
swiftly. 

Breath was coming fast now. Chests were 
heaving. Each side struggled to hold its op- 
ponent to the score as it stood. Automatically, as 
it seemed to Helen, she jumped with the pigtailed 
girl, ran with her, dodged with her. Pigtails was 
never absent. Then suddenly Helen found her- 
self, ball in hand, in a clear space near the side- 
lines, quite too near the side-lines. Voices in her 
ears were calling, Shoot ! Shoot I There 
was no obstinate chin jigging up and down before 
her eyes. Quicker than thought Helen swung the 
ball above her head. From her hands it sped 
straight for the home goal, struck the further rim 

151 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


of the basket, staggered for one heart-clutching 
second and settled down within the white meshes. 

A minute later the timekeeper’s whistle sounded. 

Saybrook streamed out on the floor and embraced 
its champions. Racefleld was performing the same 
rite for the victors. 

Seventeen to eleven — that’s not a bad beat ! ” 
Sally was saying. 

It isn’t anything to what I thought it would 
be,” Estelle acknowledged. 

Aren’t you proud of them ! Oh, aren’t you 
proud of them ! ” Grace squealed to Anne. I’ve 
got to hug you for that last goal, Helen.” 

She capped the act to the word. 

“ I wanted us to beat ! ” Anne cried. 

“ Wait till next time,” Gay said hurriedly. 

All ready, girls ? Now then. What’s the matter 
with Racefleld? ” 

Quick barked the answer, TheyWe all right ! ” 

‘‘ Who^s all right?” 

“ Racejield ! Racefleld ! ” 

At the door of the dressing room down-stairs the 
dreamy-eyed girl stopped Helen. ‘‘ You’re all 
right, too,” she said. '' I want to tell you that 
goal you made on the free throw — oh, the other 
one was splendid enough — but the free throw was 
the prettiest basket I ever saw anybody make. 
Not even excepting Jack French.” 

152 


A GAME AND WHAT CAME OF IT 


Jack French ? 

He used to star for the boys at home. Left 
school before Christmas. Now he’s down here in 
Saybrook. Know him ? ” 

Helen shook her head. 

“ I can tell you Racefield hated to lose him. 
He knows how to play. Hope we’ll come up 
against each other again some day. Glad to have 
met you. Good-bye.” 

Helen repeated the conversation to Anne that 
evening. Did you ever hear of a boy named 
Jack French ? ” 

‘‘ No,” said Anne. But the other girls may 
have. We will ask them to-morrow.” 

Let’s not,” Helen demurred. Let’s try Gay’s 
way. Let’s wait for Jack French to happen along 
of himself.” 


153 


CHAPTER IX 


NOT EXACTLY AN UNCLE 

Saybrook lost no time in challenging Racefield 
to a second game. The team wasted no breath in 
regrets or protestations, but settled to work to 
bring up its team play to the point where, as Gay 
said, it could be seen if you were looking for 
it.” 

The second game came off at Racefield toward 
the end of March. 

‘‘Take Johnny?” Judith echoed Gay^s ques- 
tion. “ What do you think Johnny^s mother’d 
say to that? If I was to ask her could I take 
Johnny to Racefield to help beat in a game, she’d 
think I was crazy. And I don’t know as I’d blame 
her much either.” 

“Then we’ll have to use Fritz,” said Gay. 
“ Johnny’s our principal mascot. Fritz is our sec- 
ond. Agree, Stella ? ” 

“ If you won’t let] Racefield’s big collie eat him 
up, and will hold his paw if he’s frightened.” 

“ Come along and hold it yourself,” Gay had re- 
torted. 


154 


NOT EXACTLY AN UNCLE 


Ten girls and a spaniel puppy accompanied the 
team to Racefield. F. O. C. went in a body, with 
the exception of Judith, who stayed at home with 
the principal mascot. Estelle furnished not only 
the acting mascot but her father's machine as well. 
Mary Tracy's father took his five passenger and 
combined a business trip with the girls' pleasure. 
Mr. Lathrop ordered a big touring car from a down- 
town garage and told Anne to put it at the disposal 
of the team. The girls who did not go made the 
three cars gay with bunting and red pennants. 

“ Racefield ought to know when you get there," 
one of them said. Paint the town red, girls." 

We'll paint the game red," Grace cried, run- 
ning about from car to car to make sure that no- 
body was about to be left behind. ‘‘ All right." 
She waved an assuring hand, and mounted to the 
front seat of the first car, where her jaunty red hat 
soon looked like a flying bird. The girls gathered 
on the high school steps and clapped and cheered 
as the bright little procession rolled ofi* ; the boys 
on the streets that the cars sped through lifted 
their caps and shouted. It was an exciting depar- 
ture. It made Helen feel as she had always longed 
to feel, like a soldier going out to action. 

Late March had drawn the frost from the ground 
without as yet quite settling the roads. They were 
not as bad as they had been two weeks earlier, nor 

155 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 

yet as good as they would be later. Mud and 
water flew from the tires and a boisterous March 
wind buffeted the girls^ faces. Who cared? It 
was fun to swing through the streets and watch 
heads turn curiously, fun to wave at friends, smile 
at all, and laugh inextinguishably at jokes that 
could hardly have stood alone had the jokers been 
on foot and bound for no game with Racefield. It 
was fun to bump along the country roads ; to whiz 
past farmhouses and see the farmer and his boys 
stop their work and stand gazing, agape at the bril- 
liant cars ; to slow up, tooting, for the run past a 
crossroads schoolhouse just disgorging its staring 
scholars; to slip quietly by a horse-drawn buggy 
plodding stupidly. It was more fun still — but oh, 
what unbelievably brief fun I — to spin, horns 
screaming, into Racefield, to draw up one after 
another in front of the high school, to jump out 
under the strange gaze of curious eyes, and be 
conducted to dressing rooms and gymnasium, the 
destination according with whether one were player 
or rooter. 

It was all fun, but the game was the most fun, 
that worth while type of fun that results from 
energy and desire, trained muscle and firm will, 
working together toward a given end. Gay^s team 
had come up with one purpose, and nobody had 
any attention to spare for side issues. The fact 
156 


NOT EXACTLY AN UNCLE 


that they really looked very well failed to elicit 
comment even from Grace Howe. Moreover, from 
the first minute of play Saybrook found itself able 
to do some of the things which it set out to do. 

The baffled five who had struggled in the barn 
against Racefield had held their ground by force of 
individual initiative. The result of a given play 
surprised the team*mates of the girl who made it 
quite as much as it surprised the enemy. Nobody 
knew exactly what Saybrook was going to do next, 
least of all Saybrook itself. To-day there were two 
machines on the floor. When Spud laid hands on 
the ball, her team-mates had a fair idea of what 
might happen in the next two minutes. If you 
think that this turned the game into a stupid cut- 
and-dried affair, you are wrong. There was, please 
remember, the other team. And the other team 
had no intention of letting Saybrook have its own 
way about anything, if Racefield could prevent it. 

The result was a game that kept the spectators’ 
hearts in their throats most of the time. Back 
and forth the ball journeyed, shepherded now by 
blue suits, now by white. At intervals it rose 
toward a basket, sometimes to fall back fruit- 
lessly, sometimes to drop home amid tumultuous 
cheers. The score mounted, seesawing monoto- 
nously. Four to two. Four to four. Six to four. 
Six to five. Seven to nine. Nine to nine. 

157 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


Around the gallery rail girls pressed forward, 
palpitating with fearful hope. Those standing 
hung over the shoulders of those sitting down. 
Throats grew hoarse ; mouths parched. On the 
floor faces set in grimmer determination. Nerves 
drew taut. Play was speeding faster now, less 
steadily. Knots of three or four drew toward the 
ball and scattered only to bunch again. 

The referee^s whistle blew. 

Tie ball.^^ 

Helen drew back. The Racefield captain looked 
at May Rhodes. Then she looked at the referee. 
Her cheeks flashed, her eyes dilated. “ There were 
three players' hands on the ball." She spoke to 
the referee. 

That official hesitated. 

Gay strolled over. 

There were," insisted the Racefield captain. 

The referee consulted with the umpire. 

Saybrook fouled," insisted the Racefield cap- 
tain. “ I was here. I saw them." 

The officials noted no foul," said the referee. 

‘‘They did. They fouled." The Racefield 
player's eyes glittered. She looked as though the 
next minute she might cry. Gay observed her 
curiously. The Racefield captain, she knew, had 
no desire to cry. She was merely excited. But 
Gay wondered whether she would cry. 

158 


NOT EXACTLY AN UNCLE 


** I thought Helen took her hands off before 
you put yours on” Saybrook's captain remarked. 

No, she didn^t. It was a foul.” 

Let it go, Jess,” whispered a Racefield player. 

“ She did. She fouled.” 

** Play ball ! Play ball I ” called the galleries. 

Tie ball,” repeated the referee. 

With lightning rapidity Helen's brain ran off a 
film of those pictures which are the bane and joy 
of the imaginative girl. She saw Estelle's friend 
Bess throwing a free goal. She saw Racefield tu- 
multuously rejoicing over a victory won by a sin- 
gle point. ‘‘ I can't — oh, I can't ! ” she thought 
despairingly. But her feet carried her across the 
floor to Gay. Her lips spoke steadily while her 
heart dropped into her rubber-soled shoes. 

''I'm afraid my hands were on the ball, too. 
Gay. I tried to take them off in time, but — but I 
couldn't.” 

Gay turned back to where the Racefield captain, 
her lips compressed, her eyes blazing, was slowly 
shifting so as to face her own basket. Gay said a 
word to the referee apologetically. The referee 
lowered the ball, glanced toward Helen, approached 
her, asked a question. 

" Yes,” said Helen. A miserable sense of shame, 
of foreboding, enveloped her. She spoke huskily, 
but she looked the official in the eyes honestly. 

159 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


“My hands were on the ball, too, just for a 
second.’^ 

The referee raised her voice. “Foul on Say- 
brook. Three at the ball.^^ 

She handed the ball to the Racefield captain. 
The girl turned toward Gay. “ Thank you,” she 
said. “ And you,” her nod seemed to address 
Helen. 

Applause started at one corner of the gallery. 
Racefield took it up, as understanding grew. It 
rattled along the seats in a volley of hand-clapping. 
Helen did not heed. She actually failed to hear 
the tribute of the galleries. All her soul was 
centered on the ball, which the Racefield forward 
was carrying toward the fifteen foot line. Now 
she poised it for the throw. She would make it. 
Helen had no hopes on that score. She could not 
fail to make it. Helen felt cold all over, cold and 
numb and a little sick. The ball rose in a swift 
beautiful curve and dropped through the meshes. 
Ten to nine in favor of Racefield, and it was her 
doing. If she hadn’t fouled— oh, if she hadn’t 
fouled I Why had she told that she had fouled ? 

The game continued on its deadly round. Try 
as she would, Helen found no chance to score. A 
dreadful feeling of nervousness palsied her muscles. 
Saybrook was beaten, and through her fault. 
Desperately she struggled against the weakening 
i6o 


NOT EXACTLT AN UNCLE 


certainty that assailed her. She must not think 
of defeat ; already the dreamy-eyed girl had 
captured the ball under her very eyes. She must 
throw off this fear that made her impotent. She 
must play as she had played at first, only better, 
far better than she had played at first. All the 
resolution that was in her Helen put at the service 
of the game. 

She was playing automatically, using eye and 
hand and foot by the instinct bred of steady 
practice. She was half conscious that the pigtailed 
girl jumped and ducked and ran beside her, but 
now Helenas were the hands that closed on the 
ball. How much time was there? Oh, to make 
one more goal ! Under Dreamy-Eyes' arm she 
sped the ball back to Gay, but still her guard 
pursued her. Could she never get free, not for 
one single second? The ball hurtled overhead. 
Helen jumped and brought it down, landing 
squarely. Dreamy-Eyes turned into an octopus, 
bristling with waving arms. In desperation Helen 
passed the sphere to her team-mate. The ball shot 
upward from May Rhodeses hands, and Helenas 
desire shot with it. “ In I in I in ! she was think- 
ing. Oh, you beauty, go in ! 

Exultation throbbed for a moment in Helen's 
heart. 

After that she thought of nothing except to be 

i6i 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


ready to get the ball from Gay^s hand when it 
should rise again between the jumping centers. 
There was no telling what might happen if 
Dreamy-Eyes touched it first. To get the ball 
and put it in the basket if she could, and 

The timekeeper^s whistle shrilled across the 
quiet floor. The scorer stepped forward. 

Eleven to ten in favor of Saybrook.’^ 

The dreamy-eyed girl was shaking Helenas hand. 

You're a good sport, she was saying. “ That 
score belongs to your bunch all right. You 
whipped us square.’^ 

Helen scarcely heard her, she was so eager to 
get her hands on May Rhodes. Grace was ahead 
of her. Grace was hugging the red-headed girl as 
fervently as though she were her dearest friend re- 
turned from six months of absence. Hands seized 
Helen herself. Arms enveloped her ecstatically. 

** Oh, Helen I Helen I Helen ! cried Anne. 

Other arms reached around Anne^s. 

‘‘ You've got the wrong one ! " Helen told them. 
“ It isn't me you want. It's May Rhodes." 

They continued to hug her. They hugged the 
whole team impartially. 

I could cry, I'm so happy," Grace dabbed at 
her eyes with a scrap of linen. ‘‘That, Gay? 
Oh, that's my handkerchief — what's left of it. I 
tore it to shreds, I was so excited. When May 
162 


NOT EXACTLT AN UNCLE 


Rhodes threw that last goal I nearly strangled the 
Racefield girl who sat next me. At least Sally 
says I did. I don^t remember.” 

What's the color of her hair now ? ” Gay 
whispered slyly. 

‘‘ Color of whose hair ? ” 

May Rhodes’s.” 

Oh, hers — it’s pure gold.” 

The team descended to the dressing rooms borne 
on a stream of jubilation. The girls dressed hastily 
while the rooters lined the walls and chanted 
peeans. 

“ It was a perfectly splendid game I ” breathed 
Sally. 

I thought I’d die, you kept us in such sus- 
pense I ” Grace exclaimed. I’m as limp as a 
rag now.” 

Bess says we’re the fairest bunch they ever 
played against, that nobody could find a thing to 
criticise.” 

** I should hope not,” declared Gay, after 
Helen called a foul on herself.” 

Was that what happened ? ” cried Estelle. 

We saw Helen had done something nice. Oh, 
we clapped, too, but we weren’t quite sure what we 
were clapping for.” 

They didn’t clap for that ! ” Helen was in- 
redulous. 

163 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


Indeed they did/^ Mary said. “ Where were 
your ears, Nell ? ” 

But why? I had fouled. I knew I had.’^ 

‘‘ Nobody else knew it,” Gay told her, except 
the Racefield captain. She thought she was going 
to miss a free throw that belonged to her and my, 
wasn't she mad I But I'm glad you spoke up, 
Helen. Of course it wasn't very regular. You're 
never supposed to dispute the referee's decision. 
I hate a scrapping game. But just this once I'm 
glad we weren't regular. If they hadn't had that 
throw nobody on their team would ever have 
thought the game belonged to us.” 

** What I was afraid of was that we wouldn't 
win,” Helen confessed. If we hadn't made that 
last basket ” 

“ Then we’d have lost fairly,” Gay insisted. 

Helen quaked. She remembered how over- 
whelmingly she had longed to hold her tongue. 

I'm glad I wasn't in your shoes, Helen,” May 
Rhodes said. I'm afraid I'd have kept still.” 

“ I wanted to,” Helen confessed. She felt sud- 
denly tremulous, as one who has swayed toward a 
precipice and been snatched back to safety. 

The three motor cars were waiting at the high 
school door. Racefield was also waiting to send 
the visitors home with a cheer. As Helen, on the 
front seat of the hired car, settled the rug about 
164 


NOT EXACTLY AN UNCLE 


her feet, she noticed two boys talking with the 
driver. They moved away as she straightened up. 

Ta-ta, Jack. Come again. 

Then the machines were off. 

Tongues flew in the big touring car. Helen 
nearly dislocated her neck in the effort to hear and 
talk, too. After a while she gave it up and faced 
forward. Beside her the chauffeur drove steadily, 
his eyes on the road. Helen watched the cars 
ahead for a few minutes. It amused her to see 
how even a distance they kept from each other. 
Then she glanced at the chauffeur. 

Beyond ascertaining that he was no one whom 
she knew, Helen had hitherto given him scant at- 
tention. He was young, about Floyd's age, she 
decided, and strictly intent on his business. Lean- 
ing back comfortably in her warm wrappings, the 
girl watched his gauntleted hands idly. His face, 
reddened by the March wind, turned neither to 
right nor left. The profile was clean cut, strong ; 
the lips, firm-set. 

A shower of muddy drops splashed against the 
wind shield and Helen jumped. 

Sorry," said the boy beside her. There 
wasn't anything to do but go through it." 

“ I didn’t mind," Helen answered. It sur- 
prised me, that^s all." 

Silence for a minute. Then he spoke again. 

165 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 

‘‘YouVe the girl who owned to having fouled, 
aren't you? That was a little bit of all right. 
Hope you don't mind my saying so." 

Helen turned squarely toward him in astonish- 
ment. How did you know ? " 

I saw the end of the game." 

You saw the end of the game ? How ? " 

From the trophy room. Another fellow and I 
were in there. Nobody put us out. I used to 
play a bit myself. Good game." 

She stared. Recollections crowded swiftly. 
Nonsense ! Nevertheless two and two make four, 
and Helen was apt at jumping at conclusions. 
She jumped now. 

** Did you live in Racefield until lately ? " 

“ Lived and went to school there all my life." 
Your name," said Helen swiftly, “ is Jack 
French." 

** It is," he flashed a look at her, “ but how did 
you know ? " 

“ I didn't. I mean I didn't know you were you. 
That girl I played against told me about you. She 
said a goal I threw in the other game was as pretty 
as the goals Jack French used to make." 

The boy grinned. '' It must have been a good- 
looker, then." 

She thought it was, but never mind that now. 
I want Oh, I want to ask you another ques- 

i66 


NOT EXACTLT AN UNCLE 

tion, and I'm afraid you'll think me imperti- 
nent." 

“ Fire away." 

‘‘ Did you ever have any relatives who lived in 
Westport, Maine?" 

The bolt was launched. 

^‘Westport, Maine? That was where father's 
Uncle Eben had some third cousins. Father used 
to talk about it some. Visited 'em when he was a 
little tad living at Uncle Eben's. Why ? " 

‘‘I — I just wanted to know," said Helen. Her 
gaze devoured the boy's face. Brown eyes under 
protecting goggles ; brown hair under a visored 
cap. A sober, almost a stern look, except when 
something amused him, as the mention of his 
basket-making abilities had evidently amused him 
a moment since. And still the girl's gaze searched 
and studied. She was not yet satisfied. 

** Would you mind my asking one more ques- 
tion ? " It was a very small, timid voice. 

Depends on the question. Ask it and find 
out." 

Have you — a lot of brothers — and sisters ? " 

^^No sisters. Four brothers. One of 'em's a 
baby — two years old. My father is dead — died 
last fall. I'm the wage-earner now. I do it this 
way." He indicated the machine. ** That's why 
I left school and came to Saybrook. Racefield's 
167 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


all right, it’s got things Saybrook hasn’t — that 
gymnasium, for instance — but it’s no place to earn 
money in. Too small, besides.” He paused. Is 
there anything else you’d like to know ? ” 

Helen shrank back abashed. Oh — I — I beg 

your pardon ! 

He shot a look at her crimson face. 

“ Beg yours. Would you mind telling me why 
you asked all those questions ? ” 

Helen thought swiftly. I know a girl — she’s 
a friend of mine, an orphan. Her people came 
from Westport, Maine, and her name is French. 
We’ve been trying to find some relatives for her. 
She likes big families, so we’ve been hoping for 
that kind. And she’s never had any money, so 
we’ve wanted to find people with plenty of that.” 

The boy’s smile was frankly grim. ** Sorry for 
you. Nothing doing in that line here. Mother’s 
an invalid. I’m going to move her and the kids 
down as soon as I find a way to manage it. Your 
friend will have to look further, I guess, for her 
outfit.” 

** An invalid ! Oh, I’m so sorry.” 

The hardness in the boy’s voice softened slightly. 
A third glance had shown him the girl’s face warm 
with sympathy. Her back,” he explained. It’s 
mean luck, too. She’s a nice little mother.” 
Helen liked him when he said that. “ And the 

i68 


NOT EXACTLY AN UNCLE 


kids are nice. The two oldest will have to stop 
school as soon as the law allows. That will be all 
right, if we can keep mother and the rest com- 
fortable.’^ 

For a minute Helen forgot Judith as she had 
already forgotten the girls behind her. 

Tell me about them. That is, if you don’t 
mind,” she besought him. 

What were you and that good-looking chauffeur 
chinning so hard about ? ” Gay demanded of Helen, 
as the car sped away empty down Beech Street. 

You didn’t hear a word we said to you.” 

Helen turned a tragic face from Anne to Gay. 

I’ve found Judith’s folks, and they’re not a 
bit rich.” 

You have found ” Anne’s voice failed 

her. 

“ He was Jack French, Anne. He drives cars 
for a living.” 

Our chauffeur, you mean ? ” 

Not exactly an uncle,” said Gay imperturbably. 

‘‘ They’re poor,” Helen reiterated. Fearfully 
poor. What in the world shall we do ? ” 


169 


CHAPTER X 


BREAKING THE NEWS 

The first thing to do/^ Gay said, is to call a 
meeting of F. 0. C. I’ll telephone Grace and 
Sally. You two notify Estelle and Spud. Tell 
’em to come to your house — may we, Helen? — at 
half-past seven.” 

“ What about Judith ? ” 

Most likely she couldn’t come if we asked her 
and I’m not sure we want her yet. Are you ? ” 

I don’t know,” said Helen. ** I’m all upset in 
my mind. It isn’t a bit the way I wanted it to be.” 
It’s the way it is,” said Anne. 

In exclamatory dismay the girls who gathered 
that evening at Helen’s house listened to Helen’s 
story. 

“ My goodness, Helen,” Grace exclaimed, “ we’ll 
never let you sit with the chauffeur again I ” 

A boy with four brothers and a sick mother to 
support,” sighed Estelle. If that isn’t the limit I ” 

He was good-looking,” Sally admitted. 
Good-looking ! ” Grace scorned her. If he 
170 


BREAKING THE NEWS 


was the best looking boy in town he wouldn^t do 
for a relative to Judith, fixed as he isT 

** I'm not sure," Mary observed mildly, but 
that he is the best looking boy in town. Only 
someway, he doesn't thrill me as much as the 
hermit did." 

Oh, that hermit ! " Estelle's tone commingled 
disgust and regret in equal parts. 

Of course, the relationship isn't very close," 
Helen remarked. 

I should say not I " Grace cried. “ This boy's 
great-uncle had some third cousins in Westport, 
Maine. What kind of relation does that make 
him to Judith?" 

‘‘ We might call them fifth cousins," Gay 
meditated. 

“ Fifth ! Who ever heard of fifth cousins ? 
People always lose count at third." 

That's only if they have plenty of firsts and 
seconds. Grade. If they haven't anybody nearer 
than a ninth cousin, I expect they count up to 
nine." 

** But I thought we were looking for a great- 
uncle ! " wailed Sally. 

** Little mistake in nomenclature on our part," 
Gay told her. What's in a name ? It turns out 
we've been looking all the time for a fifth cousin." 

Well, we haven't ! " Grace's pretty face was 
171 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


flushed. ** We don^t want any fifth cousins. We 
won’t have ’em either ! We want a great-uncle.” 
We may have to take what we can get, Gracie.” 

Grace stamped her foot. How can you talk 
like that, Gay ? The idea, the very idea of hunt- 
ing up a fifth cousin for Judith! As if she wanted 
a fifth cousin, with a dozen children and a sick 
mother to support, too 1 ” 

We did not hunt him up,” Anne expostulated. 
He just came, the way Gay said.” 

We didn’t invent him, Grace,” said Helen. 

** You needn’t have found him,” Grace grumbled. 

‘‘ Now that he is found,” Mary remarked quietly, 
what are we going to do about it ? ” 

“ Forget it. Forget it just as quick as we 
can.” 

Nobody spoke for a minute. Grace’s words 
struck five people with the impact of a new idea. 
The sixth arose and extended a long brown hand. 

** Shake, Gracie 1 ” said Gay. “ I’m with you 
there.” 

‘‘ You mean,” Helen exclaimed, “ that we’re not 
to tell Judith that she has a fifth cousin ? ” 

‘‘ Not a word.” 

** But — but why ? ” 

‘‘ What good will he do her ? Tell me that.” 

He and his mother and his brothers will be 
* folks,’ Gay.” 


172 


BREAKING THE NEWS 


That^s all they'll be. What can they do for 
her ? " 

“ Not one single thing," cried Grace. “ Why, 
Helen Thayer, they're worse than no relations at 
all." 

I thought he was quite nice," Helen faltered. 

Grace swept on. Here we've been and got 
Judith's hopes up. We've promised her a family 
that could do things for her, give her a home and 
good times, take her traveling maybe, and all that 
kind of thing, people that could make up to her 
for having lived in an orphan asylum most all her 
life. That's what we've promised. The people 
we've found are half-orphans themselves. They 
couldn't even give her a place to live in. It's a 
little more than they can do to find a place to live 
in themselves. Do you think it would be decent 
of us, Helen Thayer, to go to Judith French and 
say, ‘ We couldn't find you any rich relatives. 
Here are some poor ones. They aren't what we 
wanted, but they're yours.' " 

If they are hers " Anne began. 

That's so," Estelle exclaimed, drowning Anne's 
soft objection^ It would be sort of a mean trick 
to play on Judith, wouldn't it? That boy has his 
hands more than full now." 

“ It isn't as though he were a really truly rela- 
tive," Sally agreed. “ Fifth cousins don't count, 

173 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


whatever Gay says, especially if you don^t know 
about ^em/^ 

“ And what Judith doesn’t know about can’t 
hurt her,” Gay finished. 

The others nodded solemnly. 

“ We probably won’t ever find anybody else.” 
Mary threw out the remark hesitatingly. 

‘‘ Probably not,” said Gay. 

“ Why not ? ” Sally questioned. 

Lightning never strikes twice in the same spot.” 

F. O. C. pondered. 

** I’d rather not find Judith any relatives than 
find her this kind,” Grace said positively. 

“ Then we’ll have to give up having Judith for 
the Secret.” 

** It looks that way, Helen.” Gay plaited her 
long fingers together absently. We have certainly 
botched this job.” 

‘‘ Oh, dear I ” said Helen. 

Sally scowled ferociously. Estelle punched a 
pillow. The others sat disconsolate. 

I think,” Anne’s soft little voice broke the 
gloomy hush of the room, I think that we ought 
just to tell Judith what we have found out.” 

“ Why ? ” Five tongues threw the word at her. 

“ That boy is her cousin.” 

Not so you’d notice it.” 

** Maybe not. Gay. But 

174 


Oh, I don’t want to 


BREAKING THE NEWS 


have to tell her this. I wanted the great-uncle as 
much as you did. I wanted Judith to have some- 
body splendid like Aunt Alice. But 

Gay interrupted. “ If Mrs. Royce hadn’t been 
perfectly great the way she was, would you have 
wanted to know about her, Anne ? ” 

Yes, I would.” 

I wouldn’t ! ” Grace cried. If she’d been my 
aunt and turned out horrid, I’d rather never have 
heard of her.” 

** The question is,” Mary decided, how would 
Judith feel? Would she rather find out there 
wasn’t anybody exciting to expect or keep on ex- 
pecting and never know the truth ? ” 

‘‘ She would rather know,” Helen cried. “ I’m 
sure she would.” 

Nobody dissented from this opinion. 

“Just the same, we’ve played Judith a mean 
trick,” said Grace. 

“ We couldn’t help it,” said Sally. 

“ That doesn’t make it any nicer.” 

“ Who’s to tell her ? ” asked Estelle. 

The seven exchanged reluctant glances. 

“We’ll all tell her,” Gay adjudged. “To- 
morrow.” 

It was a despondent group that led Judith aside 
after school. 

“ We’re awfully sorry,” said Sally. 

175 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


We just hate to tell you, but Anne says we 
must,^' said Grace. 

Don’t feel too bad,” Estelle pleaded. 

Make up your mind to be disappointed and 
then perhaps it won’t hurt so much,” urged Spud. 

Cheer up, Judith, we’ve gone and done it.” 
This from Gay. 

I’m the one mostly to blame. Please try to 
forgive me.” Helen’s expression was woefully un- 
happy. 

Anne said nothing, but squeezed Judith’s hand. 

Judith’s eyes traveled from face to face in grow- 
ing alarm. 

** There hain’t nothing happened to Johnny I” 

They hastened to reassure her. 

Your mother ain’t sick, Helen ! ” 

No, no, mother is perfectly well. It’s 

only ” Helen faltered. It’s only Try 

not to mind too much, Judith.” 

“ We won’t ever do it again,” Spud promised. 

‘‘ I guess I can stand whatever it is, so long as 
Johnny and Helen’s mother aren’t in it. What’s 
wrong ? ” 

“Everything,” said Estelle soberly. “We — 


“ We wish we’d never said a word to get your 
hopes up.” Sally took up Estelle’s faltering 
speech. 


BREAKING THE NEWS 


“In a word/’ said Gay, “your prospects are 
busted, Judith. Flat as the flattest tire your fifth 
cousin ever pumped air into.” 

“ I don’t catch on,” said Judith. 

“ Gay means,” Anne told her, “ that we couldn’t 
find you any rich uncle. So we have found you 
somebody else.” 

“ That we wish we hadn’t found,” Grace 
amended. 

After that they all talked at once. 

“ He’s a cousin, awfully distant.” 

“ So far away you needn’t feel obliged to own 
him.” 

“His great-uncle had cousins — they were only 
third cousins — in Westport, Maine.” 

“ His father’s dead and his mother’s an invalid 
and there are four boys smaller than he.” 

“ He wishes one of ’em was a girl, so ” 

“ Gordon does the cooking. He’s in the ninth 
grade. He just loves to study, but he’s got to stop 
when his year’s out, because ” 

“ Pat makes the beds. He’s nine. His name 
isn’t Patrick, it’s Patnod. Did you ever hear 
such a name ? ” 

“ Nicholas is seven and Dick’s two.” 

“ Nick takes care of the baby and waits on his 
mother while the others are in school. She teaches 
him. And people send in things. That helps. 

177 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 

But Jack — he^s the chauffeur — wants to bring ^em 
down here to live where he can look out for them 
himself.” 

“ He doesn^t know how he^s going to do it. 
Four boys and an invalid mother ! ” 

“Jack^s making good money, but you can 
see ” 

“ Before their father died it wouldn^t have been 
so bad, Judith. Helen thinks he must have had 
a good salary. If we had found ^em then ” 

** He died of pneumonia. It was awfully sud- 
den.” 

** You won^t need to see him, so it^s really almost 
as though we hadn’t found him.” 

** He works at Stevenson’s garage if you ever do 
want a peek. Helen just called you a friend. It’s 
all right, you see.” 

But we’re terribly sorry. We meant to find 
you somebody perfectly gorgeous ! ” 

“ Can you forgive us for getting your hopes up 
and — and everything ? ” 

Judith’s contagious grin irradiated her whole 
plain countenance. 

“ Say, you aren’t trying to tell me that you’ve 
really found me some folks, are you ? ” 

** We’ve found some, but you needn’t have them. 
Fifth cousins don’t count,” they hastened to assure 
her. 


178 


BREAKING THE NEWS 


You’re the greatest girls I ever saw in my life,” 
Judith declared with conviction. You beat the 
Dutch. Think of it ! You’ve found me some 
folks. Me ! Five boys, too I And a baby ! I 
ain’t asleep, am I ? ” 

''Why, Judith French,” Estelle exclaimed, "I 
believe you like it ! ” 

" Like it? Like itf Maybe I do — just a little 
bit. A mother and five boys and one of ’em a 
baby I And I never had a relation of my own, 
not to know it, so long as I lived. Yes, I guess 
you might say I like it.” 

" But they’re poor ! ” cried Grace. 

" So’m I.” 

" Not nicely poor — really dreadfully poor I ” 

Judith’s smile seemed to tickle her ears, it was 
so wide and so glowing. " That’s nothing new to 
me. Why, I like being poor I ” 

" Honestly ? ” Gay asked. 

" I shall, if I have folks. The only trouble 
with being my kind of poor was I hadn’t any 
folks.” 

" But Judith,” Helen demurred, " Jack French 
has too many folks already for — for the money he 
earns. He didn’t say so, but I see it now. He 
can’t afford to have a cousin, even a fifth cousin.” 

"Maybe he can’t afford not to,” said Judith. 
" You let Helen tell it all over to me again, so I’ll 
179 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


get it straight in my head. Then I’ll go home and 
think about it while I’m minding Johnny and 
washing the dishes, and after I’ve slept on it I 
guess I’ll know what to do. My, but I’d just like 
to hug you girls, every one of you ! ” 

Helen threw her arms around Judith’s neck. 
“ Oh, Judith, it’s perfectly dear of you to take it 
so beautifully ! ” 

Judith laughed joyously. How’d you expect 
me to take it ? I always was pretty lucky, but I 
never expected to get any folks. My, don’t every- 
thing just come my way ! ” 


i8o 


CHAPTER XI 


FIFTH COUSINS 

Jack French, bending over a refractory tire, 
glanced up as a step sounded on the garage floor. 
Jack was alone and the responsibility of the shop^s 
business sat alertly on his broad shoulders. 

A girl stood in the door, a homely freckle-faced 
girl with twinkling gray eyes and a snub nose. 
She smiled, and the freckles and the snub nose van- 
ished as by magic. Jack had not been feeling par- 
ticularly cheerful as he worked at his tire. His 
thoughts had kept him ill company. 

Your name's Jack French, I guess," said the 

girl. 

He acknowledged the charge wonderingly. 

Busy, aren't you ? Can you talk while you 
work ? " 

He stared. 

** My name's French, too. Judith French. 
Helen Thayer says we're flfth cousins." 

Slowly light dawned on the boy. Does Miss 
Thayer play basket-ball ? " 

Judith nodded. “ She's forward on the team 
you took up to Racefield the other day." 

i8i 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 

** Oh, I see/^ A flush darkened his face. “ Sent 
you to look me up, did she ? ” 

“ No, she didn't.'^ The visitor sat down on the 
step of the disabled car. Keep right on with 
your job. If you're going to let me interrupt your 
work I'll have to try another day." 

He bent again to the tire. 

Did your great-uncle have folks in Westport, 
Maine, honest?" 

** Cousins." 

“ Know their names ? " 

The boy frowned. Father played with a fel- 
low he called Rex." 

Rex?" 

“ Short for Raymond. Ray French he called 
him, too." 

‘‘ Glory hallelujah I " 

I beg your pardon." 

“ Excuse my French." Judith clapped her hand 
to her mouth. ** Say, I didn't mean that I I'm 
kind of flabbergasted. Never expected to hear any- 
body say his father played with my father. Would 
you mind doing something for me right now ? " 
What?" 

‘‘ Say it again." 

Jack repeated. 

‘‘ Thank you. That's mighty good of you. If 
you'd lived in an asylum all your life and never 
182 


FIFTH COUSINS 


had any folks, and never heard of anybody who^d 
ever heard of the folks you once had, you'd feel 
like listening twice to a thing like that." 

, Asylum?" 

She nodded. ** There isn't much about one of 
'em I don't know. I've got asylums down fine." 

I don't understand." 

The friendly face turned full on him. ** Didn't 
Helen Thayer tell you I was a charity child ? " 

“ She didn't tell me anything — much. I blabbed 
a good deal myself, I guess." 

Well, I was," Judith informed him. ** Father 
and mother died and I was all they left behind 
them. No money. It don't seem to run in the 
French family to have too much money, now does 
it? Then last summer Johnny's mother said 
would I come and live with her and help take 
care of Johnny and go to school. And this winter 
those blessed girls took it into their heads to find 
some folks for me. There isn't much they can't 
do if they set out. They're great girls. How's 
your mother? I'm sorry she's sick. Mothers 
look pretty nice to me." 

It was impossible to help answering this girl in 
the kindly spirit of her own speech. Her friend- 
liness was contagious. Before he knew it. Jack 
French was telling Judith his worries, his prob- 
lems, his discouragements. Much more he told 
183 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


Judith than he had told Helen, gruelling anxie- 
ties that he had concealed from the other girl. 

I^d like to keep them together,^’ he finished. 

Father wanted us to stick together. But how ? 

My job^s here. If mother were well But she 

isn^t, and I can^t earn enough to hire a woman to 
keep house. As it is, people run in and lend a 
hand up at Racefield and Pat and Don are handy 

fellows. If I had 'em here No, I couldn't 

manage it. Don will have to leave school right 
away as things are. I've been trying to think he 
needn't. I'll write him to-night. Don's good at 
machinery. He can get a job all right. Pat's not 
old enough to quit school, but father had a 
cousin who's willing to take him. Son of the 
Uncle Eben father lived with when he was a boy. 
He'll take Nick, too. Don and I can pay mother's 
board and the baby's. I can't figure out any 
other way to keep going." 

You ought to have had a sister." 

He ran grimy fingers through his thick black 
hair till it stood up like a brush. Don't I know 
it?" 

The twinkling eyes traveled admiringly over 
the strong figure. The hands that coerced the 
refractory tire were long and supple. The face, 
dark and disheartened, was finely modeled. 

And I'd thought of waiting till to-morrow ! " 
184 


FIFTH COUSINS 


she said half to herself. If it isn^t just my luck 
to have come ^round to-day. 

“ WhaVs that?^^ 

“You said you couldn^t figure out any way to 
keep going unless you send off two of the boys to 
live with their uncle.” 

“ Well, I can't. What of it ? ” 

“ I know another way.” 

“You do I ” He stared at her. 

“ I guess it would work, too.” 

“What?” 

“ We're cousins. Maybe no nearer than fifth, 
but we're cousins. If you and I were to take hold 
of this thing together ” 

“ You I ” 

“I haven't any money,” Judith said simply, 
“ but I'm strong, and I know how to do things. 
They called me pretty capable at the asylum. I 
dosed the youngsters and helped with the cooking 

and took care of the sick ones Why, I could 

give Johnny's mother points on housekeeping that 
she's never dreamed of I I'll bet I could run a 
little house for you and your mother and the boys, 
and do it as cheap as you could get her and the 
baby boarded, and pay for your keep and Don's 
too. I'll bet I could I ” 

“ What if you could ? ” 

The light in Judith's eyes flickered lower, but 
185 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


she smiled bravely. I don^t suppose it looks to 
you the way it does to me. No, I don’t suppose it 
does. You’ve always had folks. But I thought 

if you really wanted to keep ’em together It 

don’t cost any more to keep house for seven than 
for six, and I don’t eat very much. But I guess 
I’d be a stranger to you. Yes, that’s it, I’d be a 
stranger.” 

Do you mean,” he broke in, that you’re pro- 
posing to come and keep house for us ? ” 

^‘That’s what I was doing.” The voice was 
earnest. Maybe it was cheeky, but I didn’t 
mean it so. I got to thinking, what if I’d been 
that sister you didn’t have. Wouldn’t it have 
been great ! I didn’t see quite how it was going 
to look to you.” 

It looks to me as though the fellow would 
have his nerve with him who’d take you up on it. 
See here, you — you didn’t mean it, did you ? ” 

** I didn’t mean anything else.” 

“ But you never saw me before in your life. 

You don’t know us — the boys — mother 

Why, you might not like us ! ” 

You mean you might not like me, I guess.” 
Judith essayed a laugh. “ I hadn’t thought of it 
that way. Maybe you wouldn’t. I’d like you all 
right. Cousins I Cousins ! ” She tasted the word 
luxuriously. 

1 86 


FIFTH COUSINS 


** You go to school, don^t you ? 

I could do what I said I'd do, and manage my 
lessons. Mr. Hershey'd let me go in just to recite. 
That wouldn't bother me." 

Is there anything that would bother you ? " 
Nothing I've thought of yet," she said hon- 
estly. 

The two met each other's eyes squarely. 

'' Look here," said the boy suddenly, you're 
all right. Understand? I'm a thousand times 
obliged to you. But I can't take you up on that 
proposition. Why, if I did I ought to be kicked 
around the block I What would you be getting 
out of it, I'd like to know ? " 

Judith glowed. Folks." 

He brushed aside the word. A lot of hard 
work for people that you never heard of until this 
week, people that haven't the ghost of a claim on 
you. Fifth cousins ! Maybe they're well enough 
to hail when the going's good. There's no call for 
'em to get out and push when the car's stuck in 
the mud. You're a mighty generous girl, but 
you've got your own road to look out for, remem- 
ber that." 

A little sigh escaped Judith's lips. ** Yes, you've 
always had folks," she said half to herself. ** Me, 
generous I Anybody can see with half an eye 
that I'd do most anything to get some folks. I'd 
187 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


go down on my knees and scrub floors for a living 
till I was a hundred and one, just to have some- 
body belonging to me that I could take care of. 
But you don’t want any more folks. I see that. 
Maybe I wouldn’t if I was you. Can’t imagine 
myself not wanting more, but maybe I wouldn’t. 
I’d better go now, or you won’t get that job done 
to-night.” 

Judith took two or three steps toward the door. 
Then she turned back. I — I wasn’t asking you 
to hire me, you know, like that woman you said 
you couldn’t afford. You’d have to furnish my 
keep at first, but soon I’d have a way to earn a bit 
on the side. I could And something. It was a 
kind of a partnership I had in mind. You’d put 
in most of the capital and I’d do the investing and 
manage the business. I’d like it fine. I guess you 
would, too, if we were only first cousins instead of 
fifth.” 

You’re the queerest girl I ever saw.” 

Judith twinkled at him bravely. '' Oh, there’s 
nothing queer about me,” she announced. ‘‘ My 
bringing-up’s been a little odd, maybe. Most 
folks are a good deal alike under the skin.” She 
nodded and turned away. 

He watched her go, irresolute. Then he took a 
step as though to follow, but pulling himself up 
short, turned back to his work. The room seemed 

i88 


FIFTH COUSINS 


curiously empty without those gray eyes. He felt 
strangely lonely without that friendly voice in 
his ears. If a fellow had a sister like that, he 

thought Well, there wouldn’t be much he 

couldn’t do. The cheerfulness of her ! Why, it 
made you think things were going all right just to 
look at that grin of hers. Did that girl ever get 
down-hearted? He couldn’t imagine it. Yet she 
hadn’t gone away as happy as she came. 

The young mechanic sprang to his feet and 
bolted through the garage door. At the corner of 
the street he overtook Judith. 

Look here, let me sleep on that proposition, 
will you ? ” 

There was no misreading the brightness that 
flashed into her face. “ That’s it,” she told him. 
** You think it over. Nobody wants to jump in 
the dark. I wouldn’t, if I was you.” 

Then he said what he had not meant to say. 
** You might go up and talk with mother. Could 
you ? ” 

That’s the way to do it. I’ll manage some- 
way.” Her face kindled. My, but I’d like to 
see those boys and that baby I I won’t go till you 
say, though.” 

Two days later a high-powered motor car came 
to a halt beside Judith and Johnny near their own 
door. The chauffeur sprang out. 

189 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


“ Hello, Cousin Judith. Is that partnership still 
open ? ” 

“ Nobody^s taken it up yet that Vve heard of.” 

“ You haven^t changed your mind then ? ” 

“ Me ? I don^t change my mind much.” 

1^11 bet you don^t. Go up and see mother and 
the kids as soon as you can. Find out what 
you^re getting into. Vve talked with her. If you 
and she say all right, we'll call it a go.” 

Honest ? ” 

I mean it.” 

Judith beamed on him. ** That's all right then. 
My, but I'm glad I You tell me how to find the 
house, and I'll take the train the first afternoon 
Johnny's mother lets me off. I'll tell her to-night 
to be looking out for somebody in my place. Got 
a house in mind yet ? ” 

Nothing I can afford.” 

** There's a little one on Oak Street,” Judith 
told him. ** It's a story and a half cottage. The 
family moved out yesterday. I met 'em when I 
went over to Helen's. Nobody is coming in right 
now, so far as they know. I asked 'em. It's not 
much to look at, and it's pretty old, so the rent 
ought not to be high. From the look outside I 
calculate there'd be room enough. Here's the 
agent's address. I wrote it right down when the 
woman told me.” 

190 



“you’re all right” 



FIFTH COUSINS 


** My eye I You^re a hustler/’ 

** When you see a thing you want, it pays to 
step lively.” 

He held out his hand. Put it there, cousin. 
You’re all right, sure enough. But I won’t pay 
any money down till you’ve seen mother.” 

Ain’t there a thing they call getting a refusal ? 
You might do that.” 

His dark eyes scrutinized her keenly. “It 
wasn’t a joke, then.” 

“ What wasn’t a joke ? ” 

“ That Oak Street house ? ” 

“ Well, I guess not I Haven’t I been on the look- 
out for a house ever since those girls told me about 
you ? Houses that will do for us are mighty scarce.” 

“ Don’t I know it ? But you may back out after 
you’ve seen the kids. Mother says you don’t 
know what you’re getting into.” 

“ That’s so,” Judith told him. “ I don’t. I 
ain’t never had the chance to find out how it feels 
to be in a family. Did you hear me say ‘ us ’ a 
minute ago ? You don’t catch me backing down 
on a chance to say us. No, siree ! When I want 
to quit I’ll let you know, and till then don’t you 
go to letting slip any chances to put a roof over 
our heads. There, I said it again. Ginger ! it 
tastes better ’n I thought it would, and goodness 
knows I thought it would be like heaven.” 

191 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


I’ll run through Oak Street on my way to the 
garage.” 

That’s the way to talk. You’ll be all right 
when once you get rid of that notion I don’t mean 
what I say, Cousin Jack.” 

“ Cousin Judith.” 

** Don’t it sound good I Well, Johnny wants to 
be going.” 

He jumped into the car, waved her a good-bye, 
and shot down the street. His heart felt lighter 
than it had done for weeks. He whistled about 
his work at the garage. The morose look faded 
out of his face. Of course, they might all come a 
cropper together, but somehow he didn’t think 
they would. That girl didn’t look like the sort to 
come croppers. If she stuck to her decision after 
seeing his mother, and now his lips puckered over 
the ^/, he and she would have a talk some night. 
They must get down to business, figure out what 
they had to do and what there was to do it with. 
It was going to feel good to talk straight out to 
somebody ! He had never cared to bother his 
mother. He had made light of difficulties to her. 
He wouldn’t have to make light of anything to 
this girl. But already he sensed the fact that seen 
through her merry gray eyes difficulties would 
wear a brighter face. Hope nodded to him and 
his head lifted. All he had asked was a chance to 
192 


FIFTH COUSINS 


keep the family together. He would work like a 
dog for that. He would grudge to that none of 
his old dreams of college and a profession. Cousin 
Judith. It sounded good, as good as the sight of 
the girl herself made a fellow feel. Queer, how 
she made you feel. Seemed to think you were 
doing her a favor to let her help you take care of 
your mother and the kids. Well, she shouldn't 
ever regret her action, not if Jack French could 
help it. 

Judith, meanwhile, was encountering opposition 
to her plan in other quarters. 

‘‘ Judith French ! gasped Johnny^s mother. 
** Whatever shall I do without you ? Really I 
must say these cousins of yours are extremely 
inconsiderate, asking you to leave me now when 
Johnny is teething and I don^t know which way 
to turn. Inconsiderate ! They are positively 
brutal.^^ 

** Oh, I wonT be leaving you without anybody,” 
Judith hastened to assure her cheerfully. ‘‘ There 
was a girl at the asylum I know would just suit 
Johnny. She and I write to each other. I Ve told 
her all about him. She’s pining to get away, too, 
the same as I was. It would be fine if you could 
get her to come. She talks nicer than I do. 
Pretty girl, too. Soft hair, just like silk. Yes, 
you’d like her. I’ll write her and you might go 

193 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


up to see her next week. You wouldn^t want to 
ask her to come without seeing her.” 

But the dismay of Johnny’s mother was less, 
stupefying than that of F. O. C. Judith stopped 
at Anne Alden’s on her way home from the station 
after her trip to Racefield. The girls were making 
fudge in Anne’s sitting-room. The fudge was half 
eaten, and the girls were putting on their hats to 
come away when Judith exploded her bomb shell. 

** Now ain’t this luck,” she beamed, standing in 
the door, “ my finding you all together ! I had to 
tell somebody, and I’d picked out Anne because 
she’s had one foot in the same boat with me. She 
wasn’t rightly sure in her own mind for a while 
about her folks. I’ve been to see mine.” 

Your fifth cousins?” They were crowding 
around her now. Tell us quick. Are they nice ? 
Who’d you see ? ” 

‘^I saw mother.” Judith’s voice thrilled on the 
word. “ She thought I might call her that even 
if I do call the boys cousins. Wouldn’t any other 
word fit. She’s it all over. That’s what she is. 
My, I feel as though I’d been to church and heard 
a choir of angels singing when she speaks to me ! 
Little, you know. Parts her hair in the middle 
and brushes it sort of ripply down close to her 
ears. Sits in a chair all the time, and sews. Oh, 
maybe she stops once in a dog’s age. She stopped 
194 


FIFTH COUSINS 


while I was there. She held my hand.^* Judith 
lifted the hand and dashed away a tear. Another 
took its place. Anne put her arms around the 
girl. 

‘‘ Why, Judith ! Judith, don't ! " 

The tears came faster. Judith put her head 
down on Anne's shoulder and cried openly. Helen 
possessed herself of one hand and smoothed it, 
murmuring cajoling words. Gay patted Judith's 
back, exhorting her at intervals to “ buck up," not 
to ** feel too bad," they'd all “ stand by and try to 
make up somehow." 

In a minute or two Judith's head lifted. She 
was smiling through her tears. 

‘‘Now wasn't that silly I I just couldn't seem 
to help it. Guess I don't know how to stand hav- 
ing folks. But you bet I'm not going to bawl all 
the time, if I am happy." 

“Happy!" ejaculated the girls. “Were you 
crying because you were happy ? " 

Judith grinned. “ Nothing else for me to cry 
about. It's all settled. Says she always wanted 
a daughter, and now God had sent one to her. I 
didn't cry about it till I got down here. Just as 
soon as Jack and I get the house in shape the 
furniture will be packed up and sent down and 

then Well, pretty soon after that we'll move 

in." 


195 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


Move in I Grace cried. Judith French, 
what are you talking about ? 

Judith looked from face to face. ** Why, didn^t 
I tell you ? I guess I^m too excited to talk straight 
to-day. I went up there to Racefield to see Jack^s 
mother and get it all settled, and ^tis settled. We^re 
going to get together, the seven of us. Going to 
hire a house here in Saybrook, and I^m going to 
run it.’^ Judith slapped her chest energetically 
and, picking up Anne, took a couple of whirling 
turns about the room. Housekeeper — J. French. 
That’s me — Judith. Head of the house, J. French. 
That’s Cousin Jack. House-mother, the one who 
makes the wheels go round — that’s Jack’s mother 
and — and mine. And oh, but Dicky’s a darling I 
I guess maybe he’ll beat Johnny when I get used 
to the little tyke. He’s my very own fifth cousin, 
anyway, which Johnny ain’t, bless him 1 ” 

Gay caught Judith by the shoulders. Are you 
telling us, J. French, that you are proposing to 
live with those people and keep house for them ? ” 
Judith nodded gayly. Don shan’t stop school, 
not if I know myself. There’ll be ways he can 
earn money outside school time. Pat’s going to 
sell papers. Got it all planned, he had. He and 
Don walked down to the station with me. Nick 
wanted to come too. My, but I certainly do like 
boys ! ” 


196 


FIFTH COUSINS 


“ But, Judith ! '' gasped Grace. “ They're only 
fifth cousins. They haven't a bit of a claim on 
you." 

Judith's twinkle sparkled over the group. 

Claim I Well, I guess not ! I had a hard 
enough time staking out a claim on them. 
Thought once I'd met my finish in that Jack. 
But he gave in, when he saw how bad I wanted it. 
Now he's glad. Told me so to-night. When I got 
off the train, there he was to meet me. Maybe I 
didn't feel like the president of the United States 
and a brass band thrown in, only forty times bigger. 
Never expected to be met at a train by a real live 
relation. He had to hike back on the run to the 
garage. I didn't mind. I wanted to see you." 

** Judith," Estelle questioned softly, “ will you 
please tell us why you are doing what you're go- 
ing to do ? " 

“ Why," said Judith simply, they're my rela- 
tions, ain't they ? I reckon it's up to me to take 
care of my own relations when they get in a hole. 
Besides, I like it." She drew a long breath and 
stretched out her arms to the girls. It was as 
though she gathered them all into a close embrace. 
“ I'm so happy," she cried, so happy I And it's 
all your doing. Every bit of it. If you hadn't 

made me the Secret Oh, how shall I ever 

thank you for finding my folks for me ? " 

197 


CHAPTER XII 


CONSPIRATORS 

Two girls walked around a group of small boys 
playing marbles on the sidewalk and, mounting 
the steps, rang the bell of the house where Judith 
lived. It was vacation, and the girls felt like colts 
given pasture run after winter^s housing. They 
wanted to race and shout. But they did neither. 
They merely walked skippingly, with many flour- 
ishes, totally unnecessary so far as locomotion was 
concerned, but absolutely essential to their peace 
of mind. It was April, and the sun caressed their 
cheeks one minute and pelted them with playful 
raindrops the next. Therefore they carried um- 
brellas which they despised. 

Are you sure the bell rang ? Helen asked 
Anne. 

Anne pushed the button vigorously. “That 
makes twice IVe heard it.” 

“ Maybe nobody’s at home.” 

Anne rang the third time. They held their 
breath and listened. 

“ Oh, dear ! ” said Helen. “ Where can Judith 
have gone ? ” 


198 


CONSPIRATORS 


Anne teetered up and down on the door mat 
while she considered the question. 

Where did she say that house was Jack French 
was going to look at ? 

“ Oak Street,” said Helen. You don’t 
think ” 

I think she’s there.” Anne started to raise 
her umbrella. 

Helen frisked down the steps. Pouf I You 
don’t need it. Only a drop.” 

If we had looked there first,” Anne remarked, 
“ we might have saved time.” 

^*Who wants to save time? It’s vacation. We 
have all the time there is.” Helen twirled her 
umbrella as she had seen a drum major whirl his 
baton. 

“If Judith comes to live in that Oak Street 
house,” Anne meditated, “ she will be near us.” 

“We could almost cut across lots from our 
house,” Helen acknowledged. “ We can’t quite, 
because of the fences, high board ones.” 

“ If we were cats, we could,” said Anne. 

Helen jumped a puddle hilariously. “ Wouldn’t 
it feel funny to be cats and walk the fence tops I 
I’d be a yellow one and miaow like fury.” 

But Anne’s flights of fancy were short. 

“ How shall we know which house it is ? ” 

“ Bv the looks. Judith called it a little house. 

199 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


We’ll walk along until we see one that fits and 
then try it.” 

This program added spice to the search. They 
turned adventurously into Oak Street. 

** You take that side to watch,” Helen com- 
manded. I’ll look on this side.” 

Their gaze jumped ahead, eagerly searching the 
street. House after house, comfortable two-storied 
structures; brown, gray, white, green now and 
then for variety ; foursquare, octagon ; plain, fanci- 
ful!; compact, rambling. You had your choice of 
almost any kind of house on Oak Street, except 
apparently story and a half cottages. 

“ Do you see anything that looks like it, 
Helen ? ” 

“ No, but she said Oak Street. I heard her last 
Friday morning.” 

They walked swiftly, anxiety quickening their 
steps. On either hand little squares of greening 
grass separated the houses from the sidewalks. 
Branches, still bare, but faintly knobby with leaf 
buds stretched above their heads. Children played 
and shouted in the sunshine. The girls turned 
aside to avoid interrupting an energetic rope 
jumper. They traversed two games of tag. Still 
no sign of Judith’s little house. It’s a long 
street,” Anne observed. 

‘‘I almost never go through it,” said Helen. 

200 


CONSPIRATORS 


They pressed on fearfully. 

I see the end of it,” said Anne. 

“ And I don’t see ” 

** Oh I ” Both girls jumped with the surprise 
of it. 

Between two of the corpulent solid-looking 
houses slunk a third. No other word describes 
the furtive air of its retreat. It seemed to have 
backed away from the street as though to hide 
behind its more prosperous neighbors. This was 
not diflScult, because of its size. The house was 
very small ; you failed to see it until you were 
fairly abreast of it. Its long roof, broken by a 
single dormer eye, sloped surprisingly near the 
ground. On either side of its low doorway were 
two small-paned windows. Old lilac bushes, last 
year’s dry seed pods thick upon them, hugged its 
sides. Equally old syringa bushes marched 
stockily toward the sidewalk. The shingles of 
the roof were moss-grown and the paint had long 
ago scaled from the walls. The branches of a huge 
sycamore tree sprawled protectingly above the 
weather-worn little house, shaking out thousands 
of yellow catkins against the soft blue sky. Per- 
haps the sycamore managed to reassure the shrink- 
ing place. Helen thought so. As she gazed, her 
first impression changed gradually. The little 
house, dingy and old and uncared for as it was, 
201 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


now looked comfortably at home, like a cat bask- 
ing on a kindly hearth, more comfortably at home 
than the bigger houses which surrounded it. 

** This must be it,'’ said Anne. 

There was no gate, and the girls turned into the 
gravel path, walking uncertainly. 

** She may not be here,” Helen said. 

Anne found a bell and pulled. Its jangle made 
them both jump. How stupid to have thought 
Judith was here I And how dreadful to have rung 
the bell of an empty house ! It made you feel 
like a trespasser, and worse than a trespasser, as 
though you were hammering on a mystery, Helen 
thought. Of course there wasn't any mystery, 

but She pulled Anne's sleeve. ‘‘ Don't do it 

again.'' 

Why not? ” Anne asked. 

Then Judith opened the door. 

Now isn't this great ! '' Her face beamed on 
them like a freckled sun. You knew right 
where to find me, didn't you ? Come in I Come 
in ! I've got a fire in the kitchen. Johnny's 
there. It's our house now. Jack's taken it. The 
rent's paid up for a month, too. Our house. 
Hurrah I '' 

That is splendid,'' said Anne. Her face re- 
fiected Judith's happiness. ^‘When are you going 
to move in ? '' 


202 


CONSPIRATORS 


“Just as soon as we can. The quicker, the 
better. We^ve got to. My, I^m glad this week’s 
vacation ! Just my luck. Don’t you want to go 
over the house ? ” 

If they had not wanted to go over the house, 
they could hardly have failed to catch Judith’s 
enthusiasm. From room to room the three pressed, 
while Judith’s tongue tripped through a maze of 
explanations. She told them where everybody 
was to sleep and who was to bunk with whom. 
She patched tattered wall paper with the glamor 
of her own high humor and whitened dingy paint 
with the shining of her happy eyes. 

“ Of course we’re sorry the man don’t feel he 
can do anything to fix it up a little before we go 
in. But there, I guess we’ll be too happy to notice 
whether any paper’s on the walls or not, and he’s 
giving it to us dirt cheap. Jack says he can’t 
charge any more without putting good money into 
it. Jack’s going to do over his mother’s room 
himself, paint it, too. We agreed that room must 
be pretty, whatever the rest is. This is hers, the 
front corner down-stairs. I’m to have this little 
room just behind it. Across the entry is the par- 
lor, dining-room, everything in one. That’s where 
we’ll live. And back of that’s the kitchen. The 
boys sleep up-stairs. It won’t be any trouble to 
keep this house clean. I tell Jack I could do it 
203 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


easy, with one hand tied behind me. DolPs play, 
that’s what it’s going to be. Never had much 
chance at dolls when I was the right age. I’ll 
make up for it now.” 

Helen stood gazing around her in the parlor- 
dining-living-room. The dinginess of everything 
oppressed her more than it seemed to oppress 
Anne. 

I wish you could paint and paper this, Judith,” 
she said. 

“ It would be nice,” Judith acknowledged. 
“ Some day we will when we get fairly going. I’ll 
bet I could paint this myself. If Jack can spare 
the money, I’m going to ask him to bring up a 
couple of cans of white paint. If he can’t — when 
the place is cleaned up and the furniture’s in, it 
won’t look bad. Those folks that went out didn’t 
know what clean meant, I guess.” Judith chuck- 
led. “This morning I’ve been burning up the 
papers they left behind ’em. And boxes. And 
bottles. And cans. Can’t burn them, of course. 
You wait till I get through with this place.” 

“ I wish we could help,” said Anne. 

“ Bless you ! ” cried Judith. “ Haven’t you 
done it all so far ? To-night if Johnny’s mother 
is tired enough to stay home when she gets back 
from the city. Jack and. I are coming up here to 
work. Soap and water after a good broom, that’s 
204 


CONSPIRATORS 


what this place needs. He’s a great boy, Cousin 
Jack. He’s a worker. You won’t know this house 
to-morrow.” 

Why did Johnny’s mother go to the city?” 
Helen asked. She did not mean to be inquisitive. 
The inside of the little house had made her feel 
tired and blue, and she spoke without thinking. 

To get me a successor,” said Judith. ** Hope 
she likes her. Sade Brigham’s a nice girl. She 
ought to like her. No, Johnny, I wouldn’t try to 
get out if I was you. I’d stay in my carriage. 
It’s healthier up there.” 

I’ll look after him, Judith,” said Helen. She 
and the chubby baby picked up their friendship 
where they had last left it. To keep Johnny’s 
favor you had to put your mind on the business. 
This circumstance worked to Helen’s advantage. 
Her spirits began to climb up again out of their 
April dumps to April cheer. 

Three tolerably happy girls — Judith was bliss- 
ful, and that helped raise the average — and a con- 
tented baby left the little house, Judith locking 
the door behind her. 

I’ll just leave the key at the next house,” she 
explained. A real pleasant woman lives there. 
We saw her the day Jack and I went over the 
house after taking it and she said we might leave 
the key with her whenever we liked. It saves a 
205 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


good bit of shoe leather, since Jack and I can't 
always get off at the same time." 

Helen and Anne heard her heedlessly. The 
words did not seem to concern them. Johnny ap- 
peared at the moment to be much more their affair. 

At the corner Judith and Johnny went one way; 
Helen and Anne another. Helen's spirits were 
falling again. They were like the weather, see- 
sawing from fleckless blue to gloom. 

** I think that house was awful ! " she broke 
forth. 

^^Was it?" Anne looked startled. I didn't 
notice." 

Helen turned on her. Where were your eyes, 
Anne Alden ? " 

** Judith looked so happy I felt happy too." 

'' Forget Judith for a minute and think," Helen 
commanded. Just think." 

Anne thought. Judith said it would look 
better when the furniture is in." 

Do you remember in the living-room on the 
wall that has just one window that big space where 
the paper is torn off? " 

Anne acknowledged that she did. 

No furniture will cover that. Did you notice 
the brown spot on the wall next the kitchen, most 
a yard square it was ? " 

Anne confessed to the spot also. 

206 


CONSPIRATORS 


“ And the paint 

“ Jack and Judith are going to do over the paint/’ 
Anne insisted. ‘‘ Anyway, it doesn’t look as bad 
as the hermit’s house.” 

It looks sort of cute before you go into it,” 
Helen agreed. For all it’s so dingy outside, I’d 
have liked it if I hadn’t gone in.” 

The two girls walked home soberly. Anne was 
trying to think the little house through, subtract- 
ing the glamor of Judith’s presence ; Judith was 
always for Anne a completely absorbing spectacle. 
Helen was trying to see the rooms that had 
quenched her interest as Judith saw them. Cer- 
tainly furniture would make a difference, but 

Anyway,” Anne announced hopefully, ‘‘Ju- 
dith will be in them.” . 

She took the problem to her grandfather at 
luncheon. Anne and her grandfather had a great 
deal to say to each other nowadays at meals. The 
silent hours they used to pass in each other’s com- 
pany amazed Anne whenever she thought of them. 
She was too happy to think of them often. 

Anne frowned a little in her endeavor to arrive 
at a just statement of the case. “ Helen saw the 
spots and I saw Judith,” she finished. “ Of course 
she saw Judith and I saw the spots, too, but we 
mostly saw the way I said first. How do you 
think it will look to other people, grandfather ? ” 
207 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


Are the spots very prominent, Anne? 

Yes. But then, so is Judith.^^ 

I agree with you, granddaughter. I think I 
should fail to see a spot if Miss French was in the 
room with it.^^ 

Anne dimpled. “ You said that beautifully, . 
grandfather. I wish I could say things the way 
you say them. You don^t suppose, do you,’^ it was 
evident the coming question lay heavy on Anne’s 
mind, you don’t suppose Judith saw the spots the 
way Helen did and was just making the best of 
them ? She can’t see herself, you know. There’d 
be nothing but spots for her to see.” 

Mr. Lathrop regarded Anne gravely. “ So the 
spots made Miss Thayer feel bad.” 

Anne nodded. 

^‘In that case, I am inclined to think them 
reprehensible, extremely reprehensible. Anne, 
should you like to join a conspiracy ? ” 

“ Catiline was in a conspiracy, wasn’t he ? ” 

** I referred to a different stripe of conspirator. 
You and I and possibly Miss Thayer.” 

Anne’s eyes sparkled. “ I’d love to be in a 
conspiracy with you, grandfather. So would 
Helen.” 

He beckoned and she slipped around the table 
to his chair. The white mustache tickled her ear 
for two minutes. 


208 


CONSPIRATORS 


Anne gave a little jump of delighted compre- 
hension. ‘‘ Oh, grandfather ! 

Soon she returned to her seat and conversation 
progressed in mysterious dislocated sentences. 

‘‘Helen and I could do that. We’d manage 
someway.” 

“ If she caught you ” 

“ She wouldn’t. We wouldn’t let her catch us.” 

“ The conscript fathers caught Catiline.” 

“We’d be more careful than Catiline, — lots more 
careful. But Jack ” 

“ ITl settle Jack. I may have to go to Boston 
some day this week. I had thought of taking 
you.” 

“ I couldn’t leave here that day. Something 
might happen.” 

He assented gravely. 

“ If you went another day ” she suggested. 

“ I should hire a machine at Stevenson’s gar- 
age.” 

“ Oh ! Oh ! I was stupid. No, I couldn’t go, 
grandfather.” 

“ My business is somewhat musty. It would 
not interest you particularly, and I do not see how 
I could feel quite secure unless I left a faithful 
lieutenant in charge here.” 

“ You can trust me, grandfather.” 

“ We will trust each other, granddaughter.” He 
209 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 

bowed his courtly head. “ Would Miss Thayer 
care to accompany us on a little trip down-town 
this afternoon ? 

She would love it.^^ 

My dear,” said Mr. Lathrop, I fear we should 
have made our conspiracy a purely postprandial 
exercise. You are not eating.” 

I can’t,” Anne told him, ** not now. I ate 
enough before this course anyway. When can 
we start ? ” 

The blue-gray eyes hid a twinkle. ** Conspira- 
tors require patience, my dear Anne. It is the 
chief stock in trade of the successful members of 
the craft. Could Miss Thayer be ready to accom- 
pany us about three ? ” 

** I’ll see,” ;Anne said. I’ll tell her just the 
way you told me.” 

Do so,” he counseled gravely. “ There is a 
great deal in approach. The method of approach 
often spells success or failure. However I do not 
think you will find Miss Thayer difficult to per- 
suade.” 

At three o’clock, to be precise, at a half a minute 
before three, Helen, watching from a front window 
of the house under the elms, saw the door across 
the street open and Mr. Lathrop and Anne emerge. 
Immediately Helen issued from her own door and 
picked her way delicately through the mud-pud- 
210 


CONSPIRATORS 


dies. The sky shone blue overhead and the sky 
of her heart smiled too, quite as though neither 
had previously known showers. The three con- 
spirators met on the sidewalk. 

“ The essence of successful conspiracy,” re- 
marked Mr. Lathrop, “ is to act as though one 
were doing nothing unusual.” 

That will be hard.” Helen looked anxious. 

I don't feel a bit usual. Do you, Anne ? ” 

No,” said Anne. I feel awfully unusual.” 
Jumpy inside,” explained Helen. She gave a 
little skip to illustrate the jumpiness. “ Would we 
better try to act usual ? ” 

** I would seriously advise it, so far as you can.” 

“ That will be fun, too,” Helen decided. If 
we meet any of the girls, Anne, and they ask us 

what we are doing, we’ll say — we’ll say ” 

That we are down-town with grandfather,” sug- 
gested the literal Anne. 

That won’t be very exciting.” 

If we are being usual, we can’t be exciting.” 
No, I suppose not. You’re right, Anne. But 
we can think. Oh, if you only knew what we 
really are doing, just wouldn’t you jump around ! 
We can think that. Now I’m going to be usual.” 

Helen gave another little skip to illustrate how 
very ordinary was the expedition, and settled to a 
sedate walk. But her eyes danced, her cheeks 
211 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 

were flushed, and her lips curved every few min- 
utes in a way that confessed only too frankly her 
thoughts were not of the soberest. Anne’s face 
shone like a rosy star and the arm linked in 
Helen’s pressed her chum’s ecstatically. 

There’s Gay ! ” whispered Anne. 

** Be ordinary ! ” Helen warned. 

** I’d like to look in this window a minute, 
grandfather,” said Anne. 

The three halted, while two of them gazed with 
blind eyes at an array of hardware. 

‘‘Wanting to buy a coal-hod, Anne ?” queried 
Gay’s mischievous voice. 

“ Why — why, no I ” Anne’s awakened attention 
groped frantically for a plausible explanation of 
her stare. The window held nothing but coal- 
hods ; black coal-hods, white coal-hods, galva- 
nized iron coal-hods ; coal-hods of every size and 
form. 

“ It’s — it’s those little ones,” Anne said hastily. 
“ Don’t you think they’d be cute for — for fudge, 
Gay ? ” 

“ Are you feeling well, Anne ? ” 

“ Not to cool it in,” Helen rallied to the aid of 
her fellow-conspirator. “ To serve from, cut up in 
chunks, you know. You could pour them out, 
just the way you do coal. Oh, I’ll tell you what 
would be cute ! ” Helen’s imagination was work- 
212 


CONSPIRATORS 


ing bravely now. If we could get some really 
tiny ones, dolls’ size — these must be for children — 
and use them for individual fudge dishes, and fill 
them up from the bigger one.” 

Gay inspected the two carefully. Then she 
turned to Mr. Lathrop. Have they been like 
this long ? ” 

Inspiration seldom continues at a gallop for 
many miles. Miss Flint.” 

“ I thought not.” 

We had been looking,” Helen explained, wish- 
ing Gay’s brown eyes would take their mischievous 
probe to less sensitive quarters. We only just 
now began to talk.” 

As I came up.” 

We had been looking,” Helen parroted. 

‘‘ Yes, we were looking,” Anne said. That’s 
how we happened to see — the little ones.” 

Honestly ? ” Gay questioned. I must re- 
member that. Look and you’ll see — what you’ll 
see. Want me to help you buy them ? ” 

Anne jumped. “ How did ” 

Helen pinched her. Buy what ? ” 

Coal-hods.” 

** Oh I ” said Anne. 

a We^re not buying to-day,” Helen answered. 

We’re just looking.” 

“To be sure. You told me that before, didn’t 
213 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 

you? Stupid of me to forget. But I wouldn't 
have 'em too often, if I were you." 

Helen was bewildered now. Have what? " 

‘‘ Ideas like that coal-scuttle-fudge combination. 
They might overheat your heads. Maybe you'll 
be all right if I run along. You said I set you off, 
didn't you? " 

“ I don't remember saying anything of the kind," 
said Helen. 

‘‘ Oh, no. I remember now. You said you only 
began to talk as I came up. Rather funny, that. 
I must be careful how I come up, if it's going to 
have this effect on you. Put me down for the 
party, Anne." 

The — the party ? " 

'‘The coal-hod fudge-party. Thanks tremen- 
dously for the invitation." 

The conspirators emerged from the encounter, 
wiser and more alert. 

“ Gay almost found us out," whispered Anne. 

“ She knows we're not going to buy coal-hods." 
Helen had no illusions on that point. “ She doesn't 

know what we are to buy, but It is hard to 

act ordinary when you are feeling different." 

“ It is, indeed," said Mr. Lathrop. 

He held open a door and they entered, excite- 
ment mounting in their veins. It is to be feared 
that they abandoned all attempts to be ordinary. 

214 


CONSPIRATORS 


The half hour that ensued mingled pleasure with 
responsibility. The responsibility was gratifying, 
but it belonged entirely to Anne and Helen. Mr. 
Lathrop refused to have any part in it. The three 
sat on chairs while a clerk hovered in front of 
them, his hands busy. The girls^ eyes lifted fear- 
fully whenever the door opened and returned in 
relief to their quest as often as incoming customers 
were revealed as strangers. The next time might 
prove them less lucky. Insecurity added a fillip to 
the already piquant dish of adventure at their lips. 

At last they were through ; the final order given, 
a name and address tendered, one neither girl had 
heard before. 

I did a little telephoning,^^ Mr. Lathrop ex- 
plained, before leaving home. Our purchases 
will not be unexpected. May I ask you young 
ladies to accompany me further ? ” 

Their mystification cleared as he paused before a 
candy store. Established at one of the shining round 
tables, mounds of frozen lusciousness before them, 
Mr. Lathrop glanced about him. There was no 
furtiveness in his air, but both girls thrilled to his 
next words. 

Is it safe to speak ? We shall not be overheard 
by any who might hold the key to our conver- 
sation ? ” 

No,^' breathed Helen and Anne together. 

215 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 

** 1 don^t know any of the people at the next 
tables/’ Helen’s manner imitated Mr. Lathrop’s 
exactly. Her voice was low, but not too low ; her 
air was negligent. But her eyes gleamed. To sit 
at a round table in company with Anne’s grand- 
father in the midst of strange people and talk 
secrets — conspiracy could do no better. Almost 
she forgot her favorite ice-cream. It was a pity, 
for the ice-cream was good. 

The question is,” Mr. Lathrop remarked, 
precisely as though he were saying, How deli- 
cious this cream is ! ” ‘‘ The question is, how 

shall we allow this thing to end ? In other words 
do my fellow-plotters favor incorporating a d6noue- 
ment in our conspiracy ? ” 

I’m not quite sure what a denouement is,” 
Helen confessed. ** Is it the place in the book 
where everything is told right out, near the end, 
everything you haven’t known before, and it sur- 
prises you ? ” 

“ Where the plot explodes, so to speak,” he sug- 
gested. Shall we explode our plot at the proper 
time or — er — keep it dark forever? ” 

** You mean,” said Anne, shall we tell Judith, 
when we have surprised her, that we did it, or shall 
we let her think something else ? ” 

‘‘You have stated my meaning, grand- 
daughter I ” 


216 


CONSPIRATORS 


Both girls looked very sober. 

“ If we did not tell her/^ Helen asked at last, 
** what would Judith think? She is very quick, 
you know, and bright.^^ 

I am well aware of Miss Frenches mental 
powers. But our conspiracy, I am convinced, is 
well hidden. It is my candid opinion that unless 
informed to the contrary. Miss Judith French will 
be likely to ascribe the results of our afternoon’s 
work to a change of mind on the part of her land- 
lord. In fact, should you decide in favor of this 
issue, I believe I can ensure its becoming a cer- 
tainty.” 

'' What do you think, grandfather ? ” 

** I prefer, my dear Anne, to leave the decision 
entirely to you and Miss Helep Thayer. In this 
matter I act under your orders.” 

Helen and Anne exchanged glances. 

‘*We couldn’t be there at the house,” Helen 
said, '' when Judith discovered it, if she wasn’t to 
find out we had known about it.” 

If she knew we knew, she’d guess we had had 
something to do with it,” Anne acknowledged. 

“ But I did want to see her face when she saw it 
first.” 

So did I. Judith wouldn’t mind knowing it 
wasn’t the landlord.” 

Jack French would.” 

217 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


** Would he ? Why should he, if J udith didn^t ? 

** He^s awfully proud, Helen said, ‘‘ and inde- 
pendent. And we^re Judith^s friends, not his. 
Somehow I think he’d rather have it the land- 
lord.” 

“ I don’t care if he would,” said Anne. 

Helen brightened. Don’t you ? Then let’s 
let Judith guess, if she can.” 

But Anne was thinking, Will Judith feel bad 
if Jack French doesn’t like grandfather’s having 
done it ? ” 

‘‘ My name will not appear, Anne,” Mr. Lathrop 
interposed. I am the silent partner of this 
conspiracy, remember.” 

It is nearly all you,” said clear-headed little 
Anne. ‘‘ We couldn’t have done anything by our- 
selves. Everybody will know that. Judith and 
that Jack will know you really did it. Will 
she be sorry if he feels bad, Helen ? He is her 
‘folks.’” 

“ I wish you hadn’t thought of that, Anne.” 

“ You think she will be sorry ? ” 

Helen wriggled. “ I’m afraid so.” 

“Then,” said Anne, “we must never tell her or 
let her find out that it wasn’t the landlord.” 

“ No,” sighed Helen. “ And we can’t watch her 
face when she discovers it, either.” 

“ She will come and tell us just as quick as she 
218 


CONSPIRATORS 


can. We have decided, grandfather, we won^t 
have any denouement/' 

The three consumed their cream quietly. 

It is going to be awfully hard to look right,” 
said Helen. 

“ We must look right,” said Anne. 

A good many things were hard. To know a big 
beautiful secret, and to act as though you didn't 
know it, is extremely difficult. Helen and Anne 
caught themselves on the point of tripping a dozen 
times a day. More than once they saved them- 
selves only by a quick turn of speech. It was 
hard to find a chance to have a word with 
Johnny's mother when Judith was certain not to 
come unexpectedly on the scene, but Helen and 
Anne managed it. Wasn't that their very own 
private part of the conspiracy, planned and ar- 
ranged by a committee of the whole plot ? It was 
harder to keep quiet before F. O. C. ; never to mur- 
mur, “ I know something nice that's going to 
happen pretty soon ; ” never to whisper together 
suggestively ; never to acknowledge by sign or 
word a mutual understanding unshared by the 
others. It was hardest of all to live through that 
day when a motor car shot away from the brick 
house on Beech Street bearing Mr. Lathrop and a 
dark young chauffeur. 

So much was happening. How could they keep 
219 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 

their minds from the glorious secret ? How could 
they hold their attention to common things? 
Soon after midday in desperation the two girls de- 
cided to risk a call on Judith. They went through 
Oak Street and they stopped once on the way, at a 
house where no one was at home except workmen. 
Of course, it was risky ; that, as Helen pointed out, 
constituted the peculiar spice of stopping. They 
took precautions, however. They were very care- 
ful to inquire, Is Miss French here ? ” of the 
workman nearest the door. And when on the 
sidewalk they encountered a lady whom they both 
adjudged to belong to the next house, Helen re- 
marked apologetically, ** There seems to be no one 

at home. You couldnT tell us, could you ” 

The lady did not wait to hear what she could or 
could not tell. ‘‘ They havenT been near the place 
to-day, neither the girl nor the boy,” she told 
Helen and Anne. ‘'The workmen came this 
morning at eight. That job^s going to be put 
through quick, I guess.” Helen and Anne 
thanked her and hurried off, squeezing each 
other’s hands and trying to keep the jubilation 
out of their bearing. 

They found Judith as nearly out of patience as 
that cheerful young person had ever shown her- 
self. 

“ We meant to strike for half a day off and go 
220 


CONSPIRATORS 


Tip to the house and work to-day/’ she told them. 

But didn’t Jack stop for a jiffy at ten minutes 
of eight this morning to say he’d got to take a 
party in to Boston, leaving at eight o’clock I And 
hasn’t Johnny’s mother kept me on the jump all 
day ! Thought she’d begin to clean house up-stairs, 
she did. It’s fun to clean house, but I had been 
planning to doit for my own house. Little jolt 
for Judith. Never mind, there’s more days com- 
ing. Jack finished his mother’s room last night. 
It’s painted and papered and fresh as a pin now, 
hooray ! ” 

“ Hooray it is,” said Anne. 

The two girls left Judith to her cleaning and re- 
turned to Beech Street to wander through their re- 
spective gardens, watch the clock, and keep an ear 
open for the honk-honk of motor cars. They did 
not dare to pay another visit to Oak Street. 

At five minutes past five the third conspirator 
stepped from his hired motor car at his own door. 
Some half hour later events developed. 

They began with an apparition of Judith, cheeks 
brilliant, eyes blazing, hat awry. 

Come ! Come quick!” Judith cried. ‘‘Come 
over and see what’s happened I ” 

“ What — what has happened ? ” Helen man- 
aged to ask. 

She received no answer. The three girls hurried 
221 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


through the streets. Judith threw open the door 
of the little house on Oak Street and ushered them 
into the living-room. She whirled them from liv- 
ing-room to kitchen, through her own prospective 
bedroom, and on into Mother Frenches. 

Look I ” she commanded joyously. ** Just 
look ! Oh, glory I 

Helen jumped up and down as delightedly as 
though she had not known what to look for. 
*‘OhI*' she cried ecstatically, ‘‘oh! I^m so 
happy.'" 

“ I knew you two'd be glad," said Judith raptur- 
ously. “ That's why I ran all the way to get 
you." 

“ Who — who did it? " asked Anne. 

“The landlord," said Judith. “Jack took the 
car the minute he saw this and hunted him up. 
Said he guessed it did look too bad to live with, 
after all. But fresh paint and paper both — it's too 
good to be true. And I'd been thinking sort of 
mean thoughts of that man." 

“ The paper is rather pretty," said Helen. 
“ Don't you think so ? " 

“ It's beautiful. I couldn't have done half so 
well, if I'd picked it out myself. Look out for 
that paint 1 It's fresh, Helen. They don't gener- 
ally do a job this way. Put on an extra force and 
did it up quick, the man told Jack. Couldn't get 
222 


CONSPIRATORS 

them any other day. Yes, that paper^s pretty 
enough to eat.’* 

Helen and Anne did not even look at each 
other. 


223 


CHAPTER XIII 


MOVING IN 

** Say that again/^ said Judith. 

She was on her knees in mother’s ” room, a 
wet cloth in her hand, a pail of soapy water beside 
her. 

The boy in the doorway repeated his words, with 
additions. 

The Browns will take the house in Racefield if 
they can move in Monday. They’ve got to get 
out of the rooms they’re in now. Another bunch 
is moving in there. For them to move in Monday 
mother says we must be out on Saturday. If they 
go in, there’ll be no rent to pay at Racefield after 
this week. If they don’t, it will mean double rent 
for a bit — there and here. Our contract called for 
a month’s notice. Besides, we’d like to oblige Mr. 
Curley. He’s been a first-rate landlord. What do 
you say ? ” 

“ To-day is Thursday,” said Judith. 

“ I know it’s short notice.” 

How much is to be done up there ? ” 

Mother and the boys have things pretty well 
224 


MOVING IN 


looked over. I could pack ^em up in a couple of 
days, Don and Pat helping. That means the first 
load would start down here Saturday morning 
early. Stevenson will let me off work for the rest 
of this week. I’ll get back Saturday morning 
and help here.” 

Judith shook her head. No, you won’t. I’ll 
manage this end. You stay up there and bring 
down your mother Saturday night. I guess you 
won’t find much time to sit around and twiddle 
your thumbs.” 

“ You can’t,” he told her bluntly. You can’t 
manage this end all by yourself.” 

Judith thought a moment. I’ll tell you what. 
Send Don down Saturday morning. Don and I 
can do it. If you need Don, send Pat.” 

His jaw set. ‘‘ I’ll do nothing of the sort. Do 
you think I’m going to let you work yourself to a 
rag ? Besides, you couldn’t do it even with Don 
to help. How much time can you spend over 
here the rest of this week ? ” 

Sade Brigham came last night. That’s why 
I’m here now. Johnny’s mother likes her real 
well.” 

“ It’s too much for one girl to handle,” he re- 
peated doggedly. “ Better pay double rent for a 
while than wear you out.” 

Judith shook her head. “ Don’t talk about 
225 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


throwing away good money, Jack French. I won't 
be worn out. Now you go right up and tell that 
man Curley your mother will be out of the Race- 
field house Saturday." 

He hesitated. “ I don't just like it." 

** Well, I do. I'm tickled pink to think of it. 
If I wasn't mopping this floor, I'd jump up and 
down all over the place. Saturday I It's most too 
good to be true." 

** Look here I You're a good sport. Cousin 
Judith. Would you tell me if you couldn't see 
your way through, honor bright ? " 

She nodded. If I get stuck I'll send for you. 
That's a bargain." 

“ Then I'm off. Good luck I " 

“ Good luck, Jack." 

The door shut behind the boy and hasty foot- 
steps dashed down the path. Judith went on with 
her mopping. 

I'm blessed if I see how this thing's going to 

work out. He's got his hands full. Mine " 

She surveyed them a minute. Then, as though to 
make up for the lost seconds, redoubled her strokes. 
** I guess I can do what I've got to, even if I don't 
see how." 

The floor was finished and Judith had begun on 
her own room when the bell jangled. Immediately 
the house was full of voices. As a matter of fact, 
226 


MOVING IN 


there were only two, but they reverberated blithely 
through the empty rooms. 

Judith I Where are you, Judith ? 

** We thought we’d save you from coming to 
the door, so we walked right in.” 

Helen and Anne halted in the doorway. 

“ Oh, you’re slopping water around,” Helen 
cried. What fun ! ” 

Anne watched Judith with interest. I wish I 
could do that.” 

Judith laughed up at them gayly. ** You won’t 
mind if I don’t stop. I’m in a drive this morning.” 

“ Oh, don’t stop I ” Anne urged. I like to 
watch you.” 

“ It’s great to be in a drive,” said Helen, remem- 
bering experiences of her own last summer. 

I don’t know,” said Judith, never pausing in 
her long rhythmic strokes. A steady pace suits 
me better. But I’m not choosing to-day.” 

Why do you hurry ? ” Anne asked. 

My folks are coming Saturday.” 

Day after to-morrow I Oh, jolly ! ” 

It will be jolly if I can get ready for them.” 

** Where’s Jack ? ” 

“ Gone to pack them up. He’s got his hands 
full. We didn’t plan to move ’em quite so quick.” 
Judith explained about the family that wanted the 
house in Racefield. It’s luck in one way,” she 
227 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


finished. It will save us good money. Yes, it^s 
luck. I’d sort of hoped to get things all ready, 
everything from up there put in its place down 
here. No confusion. No muddle of duds sitting 
round waiting to go nobody knows where. Then 
Jack should bring Mother French down. That’s 
the way I’d planned it. Kind of a dream, I guess. 
Well, we can get her room in order, that’s one 
thing sure. And she won’t mind. She’s not the 
sort that fusses if there’s a pin set crooked in a 
cushion. And I can’t expect to have everything 
go my way — all the little things, when I’ve got the 
big things.” 

Yes, you can,” Helen cried. “ You can, if it’s 
just settling this house you mean. Couldn’t you 
get it done the way you want it, if we helped ? ” 

“ We should like to help,” said Anne quietly. 

Judith put down her cloth and lifted to the two 
a sunny face. If that ain’t just like you ! You 
sure are the beatingest girls that ever lived. I 
don’t seem ever to get used to you, now do I ? ” 

Then you will let us ! ” 

Judith bent a keen glance on the girls. 1 
wasn’t bidding for an offer.” 

** We know that.” 

** Settling a house is hard work. I haven’t ever 
done it, but I know.” 

It won’t be hard work if we all help,” Helen 
228 


MOVING IN 


urged. This house especially. It^s a dolPs 
house. Why, settling this house will be play I ’’ 

** I never settled a house,” said Anne. “ Please 
let us help, Judith.” 

I guess you really mean it,” said Judith, but 
you don^t know ” 

“ Of course we mean it ! ” 

You don^t know just what you’re getting into. 
Better ask your mother and Mr. Lathrop.” 

We’ll ask them,” Helen promised. 

• ‘ We know now what they will say.” 

“ You do, do you? ” Judith went back to her 
mopping. ‘‘ Saturday is going to be my busy day. 
There won’t be more than I can manage before 
then.” 

What is it you’re going to do before ? ” 

Wash the windows and clean up-stairs. That’s 
a job I can handle.” 

Helen pinched Anne and the two smiled at each 
other furtively above Judith’s bent head. 

‘‘ We must be going now. Perhaps we’ll look in 
on you this afternoon.” 

Safely out of the house and on the front walk 
they exchanged confident glances. 

“ Gay’s first,” said Helen. 

On the way they annexed Grace and Sally. The 
five then collected Mary Tracy and the six pro- 
ceeded to Estelle Lawrence’s. 

229 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


“ If Judith's bound to adopt these people," said 
Grace, when the story had been retold again, ** I 
don't see but it's up to us to help her out. We got 
her into this fix. We told her about Jack French." 

‘‘I wish you wouldn't keep calling it a fix, 
Grace," Helen remonstrated. Judith's happy." 

Maybe she is now." 

** No dark hints allowed. Grade," ordered Gay. 
** Judith knows what she's about. Who votes that 
F. O. C. turn into a society of scrub-ladies ? " 

Grace's delicate nose elevated itself disdainfully. 
“ I hate dirty water and black soppy cloths. They 
ruin your hands." 

“ Empty your pail often," said Mary. “ That's 
the way our scrub-woman does." 

“ Judith said she didn't need help before Satur- 
day," Sally suggested. 

** She said not, but she's going to get it," said 
Gay. I'm about to call for volunteers. All 
who want to help scrub Judith's playhouse, stand 
up." 

Estelle rose promptly. I love to clean house 
and I never get enough of it to do at home." 

I'm a dabster at paint," Spud said rising. 

‘‘ It's all fresh down-stairs," Helen told her. 

“ What about up-stairs ? " 

“ There'll be enough to do up there. I don't 
know that I'm a dabster at anything, but I know 
230 


MOVING IN 


how to do a good many kinds of things and some 
of them I like” Helen confessed honestly. 

I do not know how to do anything, but I can 
watch the rest of you and copy,^^ said Anne. 

“ I get more than I care for at home, but this is 
going to be a lark, so I'm in for it," Sally re- 
marked, joining the volunteers. 

** I adore cleaning windows," Gay announced. 
** I prefer cleaning windows to anything I can 
think of except reading a book. Oh, and going 
to Anne's coal-scuttle fudge-party. Therefore I 
shall head the procession. Better tag along. 
Grade." 

** I don't see that there will be much left for 
Judith to do," said Grace. 

** Judith will be grand master of ceremonies, and 
chief potentate of the what-goes-where. You'll 
miss something if you miss this, Gracie. Who 
said we had got Judith into a mess and F. O. C. 
ought to see her through ? " 

I can say that and say too that I hate slopping 
around with wet cloths, can't I?" Grace was 
obstinate. 

Promptly at two o'clock a little procession filed 
up the path between the syringa bushes. Gay led 
it in her most prankish manner. Grace brought 
up the rear, obviously without enthusiasm. 
Plainly she wished to be neither where she was 

231 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


nor yet anywhere else. Each girl carried under 
her coat a long print apron. Helen and Estelle 
and Mary bore ungainly paper packages. Sally 
had a brown roll that defied conjecture. 

** What’s that about a fudge-party ? ” Grace 
pricked up her ears. 

** Helen said we looked like one.” 

** Just some of Gay’s foolishness. This is much 
nicer, anyway, Grace.” 

Anne displayed a black rod with two different 
brush attachments, which she explained she had 
selected from a closet full at home. 

** Do you think these are right. Gay ? ” she 
asked anxiously. It was awfully hard to choose.” 

Gay herself sported a new pail half full of old 
cloths and was inclined to make fun of the girls 
who had concealed theirs in paper. 

What’s the matter with a pail ? ” she demanded 
twirling hers at arm’s length. Nice little pail I 
Shiny little pail ! Blessums heartums. Didums 
want to go to Judith’s house and clean windows? 
So urns should. And not be shut up in any old 
brown wrapping paper, either.” 

Gay I ” expostulated Estelle and Mary. “ You 
absurd thing 1 ” 

Absurd ! Did you hear that ? Absurd I ” Gay 
addressed the pail in mock indignation. “ They’re 
jealous, that’s what they are. Jealous ! I know 
232 


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why, tootsey-wootsey, pailey-wailey. Theirs are 
old black scrawny pails, not nice new shiny pails 
like Gay’s own treasure. That’s what theirs are. 
So they do ’em up. To hide ’em ! To hide 'em I 
Blessums ” 

If you don’t stop, I shan’t be able to go another 
step, Gay.” The words issued in little gasps 
between Helen’s laughter. 

S-s-sh I ” 

The giggles ceased. 

Solemnly the seven lined up before the door 
of the little house. Gay tipped her hat on one 
side, readjusted her hair rapidly, and rang the 
bell. 

Gay I ” 

“ Oh, you sight I ” 

‘‘ S-s-s-s-s-s-sh ! ” 

The door opened. 

Fine day, mum ! Be you needin’ a scrub-lady 
the day, mum ? ” Gay’s accent was a perfect copy 
of the speech of the woman employed in that 
capacity by her mother. 

Judith laughed delightedly. 

Ain’t no cause for to be laughin’, mum. I’m 
a self-respectin’ widdy, that’s what I be. ’N’ these 
along o’ me, they’s as self-respectin’ as I be. Shame 
on ye, mum, for shakin’ y’r sides at the expense o’ 
the poor.” 


233 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 

** If you could see yourself/' grinned Judith. 
** You're great girls. I always said you were great 
girls." 

Is it seein' ourselves you’d be havin' us, mum ? 
Sure, an' the likes of us ain't got no time to be 
grimacin' at ourselves in a mirror, we ain't. We're 
harrrd-workin' women, we be. Got any work for 
us, mum? That's what we're askin' o' you the 
day." 

They trooped past Judith into the little house. 

Oh, how nice and fresh I " Estelle cried. 

** What pretty paper I " said Mary. 

“ Isn't this cute ! " Sally exclaimed. 

Hats and coats came off, aprons went on, pails 
emerged as by magic. 

Cloths ! " Estelle exclaimed. I wondered 
what you had in that bundle, Sally." 

I didn't know what else to bring," Sally ex- 
plained. “ Mother said you never could have too 
many cloths when you cleaned windows. I wish 
I'd thought of a pail." 

You may use half of mine," Estelle promised 

her. 

Gay turned briskly to the astonished Judith. 

“ I hereby appoint you Commander-in-Chief of 
the General Staff and Head of the Order Bureau. 
Where shall we begin ? ” 

You don't really mean it I " 

234 


MOVING IN 


“ Do we look as though we didn^t mean it ? 

Judith’s grin again conquered her astonishment. 
“ You look sort of businesslike.” 

“ I’ll give you a tip,” said Gay. I’m going to 
wash windows. Now tell us off to the different 
rooms.” 

Talking, suggesting, advising, all together, 
F. O. C. settled to work. Even Grace succumbed 
to the atmosphere of enthusiasm, and with her 
pretty hair covered by a dainty dust cap, which 
she produced mysteriously from nobody knew 
where, proceeded with one of Anne’s brushes to 
sweep down the walls of the up-stairs rooms. 
Grace’s motions were as effective as her inclinations 
had been reluctant. After she had finished the 
walls, Anne with the other brush took her first 
lesson in fioor-sweeping by Helen’s pattern, while 
Mary industriously scrubbed paint. 

Down-stairs Gay and Estelle and Sally started a 
competition in window cleaning, each trying to 
see which could finish hers first. As each was at 
liberty to criticize the others’ work, and no window 
could be considered finished until it was pro- 
nounced fleckless by the other two, the game 
worked very well. Poor Estelle was of course 
left hopelessly far behind in the race, for this was 
new work to her. Gay easily finished first. There- 
upon she proposed a fresh contest, undertaking to 

235 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


do two windows to Estelle^s one, and three to 
Salivas two and to beat them at that. Which she 
did. 

Altogether, F. O. C. spent a very successful af- 
ternoon. The feeling that they were helping 
Judith set a glow about their hearts. The fact 
that they were all together and as busy as bees 
made them jolly and contented. The novelty of 
what they were doing interested some and those to 
whom it was no novelty enjoyed the spice of an 
unusual setting for familiar tasks. 

** We^re coming again to finish up,^^ they told 
Judith, as they took off their aprons and folded 
their cloths and collected their brushes. 

There won't be anything much to do before 
Saturday now," said the blithe young mistress of the 
house. You've done it all to-day, there were so 
many of you. And you've done it fine." She 
twinkled at them. ** I didn't know you could 
work so well." 

“ There isn't much we can't do if we set out," 
responded the president. In fact, I couldn't 
mention anything we'd fall down on if we under- 
took it. That may be a modest statement, but it's 
just." 

" I wouldn't be the one to contradict it," said 
Judith. 

Saturday the stuff from Racefield begins to 
236 


MOVING IN 


come, doesn’t it ? ” Gay queried. “ What time 
do you want us ? ” 

Don will be down,” said Judith. He’ll help. 
Haven’t you girls done enough ? ” 

If you think, Judith French,” Gay retorted, 
that we are going to keep out of the biggest fun 

just because you have a cousin to help you 

Well, you’d better put on your thinker the other 
side out. Wouldn’t she, girls ? ” 

** I’ve always wanted to move,” said Estelle, 
and my family won’t do it.” 

“ So have I,” Helen agreed. Moving must be 
terribly thrilling. I don’t mean I want to go 
away from home. But I’d like to move out for 
the sake of moving in again.” 

Judith glowed at them. “ If you feel that way, 
come along. I don’t mind telling you all that I 
didn’t see how I was going to get done what I 
wanted to get done. I told Anne and Helen be- 
fore. They’re at the bottom of this, I guess. But 
I don’t care, so long as nobody comes here when 
she’d rather go somewhere else. You needn’t be 
very early, though. The first load won’t get in 
till the middle of the forenoon, if it does then. 
Jack said he’d hurry down as soon as he got the 
goods started. He ought to stay and bring his 
mother, but I guess we’ll need him here.” 

Why ? ” Anne asked. 

237 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


To handle the heavy pieces. Don ain^t quite 
big enough for that. Jack's got to come.” 

Helen turned on Judith impulsively. “ No, he 
hasn't. I have an idea. Tell him not to come I 
Tell him to stay with his mother ! '' 

“ Will your idea work ? '' 

I'll consult mother, and if she thinks it won't, 
I'll tell you.'' 

'' That's all right, then.'' Judith turned for a 
last loving glance before locking the door. 

On the steps Grace was saying to Sally, ** I never 
dreamed it was going to be such a cute house. Of 
course there isn't anything in it now, but the new 
paper down-stairs makes those rooms look almost 
furnished. Isn't the paper pretty, Helen ? '' 

I think so.'' 

And Judith says the landlord picked it out 
himself. Did you ever ? '' 

Helen skipped down the steps to hide the mis- 
chief in her eyes. He must be a pretty nice 
landlord,'' she called over her shoulder. 

That night Judith wrote to Jack French. ** This 
is to tell you,'' said the letter, that I am getting 
along fine, and you need not come down Saturday 
before you bring ‘ mother.' (Here I sat a while 
and looked at that word. I just can't get used to 
it.) You ought to see all the helpers I had this 
afternoon. More promised for Saturday. I guess 
238 


MOVING IN 


you would be in the way. The house looks fine, 
windows washed, everything spandy. Honest 
Injun, I don't need you and ‘ mother ' does. Give 
her my love. Cousin Judith." 

At about the time that Judith wrote her letter 
Helen was talking with Harry Dolan. 

Do you remember, Harry, when I promised 
to tell you something, if ever there was anything 
to tell?" 

** Ho I That French puzzle ? " 

She nodded. 

“ Run it down yet ? " 

She began at the beginning and sketched lightly 
the story of F. O. C.'s search for Judith's rela- 
tives. 

We are all going to be there on Saturday," she 
finished, but you know moving furniture around 
isn't very easy, especially if it's heavy. Jack 
French ought to stay up at Racefield and bring his 
mother down, and I thought maybe — ^you said to 
ask you, you know, if we wanted anything — maybe 
you could get one or two other boys and " 

“ Come around and set up the duds ? Sure we 
will." 

Helen's eyes shone. “ Oh, I knew you would I 
We want to have everything ready when Mrs. 
French gets here, every single thing, so she will 

239 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


feel as though she had always lived in that house, 
you know/^ 

** Good idesiT 

** It was Judith's idea before it was ours." 

I don't see as that hurts it. Look here, did 
that girl really live in an orphan asylum all her 
life?" 

Since she was a year and a half old." 

Harry whistled. Tough luck. I'll speak to 
Knowles and Canney, Gray too." 

Helen pondered a moment. Don't you think 
it would be nice to — to keep — that is, not to have 
that story get out all over town ? " 

Who's going to tell it? " grimaced Harry. 

You girls?" 

Saturday morning's sun found the retiring little 
house on Oak Street exceedingly busy. The lilac 
buds were swelling and doing their best to hide 
the weather-beaten walls with a delicate green veil, 
Robins and an occasional bluebird winged from 
bush to bush and now and then cocked an inquir- 
ing eye toward the windows which stood wide to 
the spring breeze. Throughout the earlier hours 
of the forenoon young people were continually 
arriving in groups of two and three. First, came 
Judith alone, springing up the path with such a 
radiant morning face that the robins almost took 
her for a second sun, on legs, a conclusion which 
240 


MOVING IN 


was not very far wrong, after all. An hour after 
Judith came Gay and Mary and Estelle, equipped 
with mysterious boxes and napkin-covered plates 
which they deposited in the pantry. 

“ Mother sent a cake,^^ said Mary. She thought 
you wouldn^t have time for much cooking to-day.^^ 
‘‘ Mine’s a lemon pie.” Estelle permitted a peep 
apiece through the partially raised lid of the box. 
“ Our maid makes luscious lemon pies.” 

I’ve brought doughnuts,” Gay announced. Is 
it coals to Newcastle, Judith? ” 

Indeed and it’s not. I didn’t get to doughnuts 
yesterday. My, don’t they look good I And to 
think of your folks sending ’em.” 

Mother said hungry boys could eat faster than 
one girl could cook,” laughed Gay. 

It’s going to take ’em a little while to do it, 
though.” Judith waved an arm at the pantry 
shelves. 

All done yesterday ? ” 

“ All yesterday.” 

Put in the whole day, didn’t you ? ” 

“ That was about it.” 

Next, Grace and Sally appeared, carrying be- 
tween them a basket containing more doughnuts 
and three glasses of currant jelly. Ten minutes 
later, Anne and Helen, frisking along empty- 
handed, and very much afraid that they might 
241 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


have missed the arrival of the first load, because 
Helen had stayed to complete her Saturday morn- 
ing tasks at home. I hurried just as fast as I 
could,'’ she reported breathless. 

And then at last, after half a dozen false alarms, 
there really was a heavily loaded cart in the street, 
a cart piled high with helpless furniture, roped to 
safety and sticking its legs out ridiculously. 
Moreover the cart was passing all the other houses 
and, yes, now it was actually stopping at Judith’s 
gate. A thin, wiry boy, with a fiery red topknot, 
and big ungainly hands and feet protruding from 
a coat and trousers too short for him, slipped awk- 
wardly from beside the driver, looking as though 
he would rather run away than be engulfed by the 
stream of girls pouring from the house. 

** Pat I ” Judith cried. ‘‘ It’s Pat instead of 
Don. Hurrah for you, Pat! You’re the boy to 
tell us where everything belongs.” 

Helen was waving eagerly to a group advancing 
up the street, and suddenly Pat discovered the ratio 
was not one to eight. Five to eight was much 
better. He forgot how many extra hands and feet 
he had. He forgot that his new cousin wasn’t a 
boy, too. He pulled off his coat the way the other 
fellows were doing and, scrambling up on the load, 
began unknotting cords. 

There was no lack of things to do from that 
242 


MOVING IN 


moment. The boys unloaded the cart and distrib- 
uted its contents through the house under the 
supervision of the girls. 

“ Mother’s room,” Pat would say of a bedstead. 

That’s Helen,” Judith would supplement hastily, 
and Harry Dolan and Phil Knowles would turn 
to the left where Helen stood in the door of 
** mother’s room.” 

Or Pat would say, “Kitchen,” and Judith would 
add, “ Gay,” and George Gray and Jim Canney 
would bear the table they were guiding up the steps 
and through the house under Gay’s direction to the 
kitchen. 

Under this system surprisingly few articles went 
wrong and there was little confusion. With the 
cart unloaded, the boys helped the girls arrange 
the different rooms, and by the time that was done 
there was another load waiting at the door to undo 
all the arrangement. Before anybody dreamed it 
could be time, noon had come and healthy 
appetites, fed by vigorous exercise, were demanding 
satisfaction. 

How hands flew in the afternoon ! There was 
so much to be done after the last load arrived and 
so little, so fearfully little, time to do it in. But 
nobody grew discouraged. Tongues flew as fast as 
fingers and laughter rang joyously through the 
house. If one made a mistake it was only a deli- 
243 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


cious joke. If one didn^t, somebody else did, and 
the joke was as good. In the atmosphere of good- 
fellowship Pat forgot his shyness and nobody re- 
minded him of it. Pat was a “ duck,^^ the girls 
said. Nobody was so handy as Pat, if a chair had 
broken its leg or a table had dislocated its hip. 

At three o^clock it seemed as though the house 
would never be settled.'^ At four o’clock Helen 
and Anne began to make the beds. At five shelves 
were still going up in the kitchen. At half-past 
five Estelle and Gay set the table and Grace dashed 
out hastily to procure a red geranium. 

will look so cheerful in the kitchen window,’^ 
she explained as she fied. 

At a quarter of six, John arrived bearing a big 
covered platter which he delivered to Judith with 
Mr. Lathrop’s compliments, and will Miss French 
do him the honor to accept a trifling contribution 
to her house-warming.” The platter bore a steam- 
ing brown turkey. 

At twelve minutes of six Anne vanished, to re- 
appear eight minutes later with both hands full 
of yellow daffodils. At ten minutes of six the 
twins trotted up the path with a hamper of hot 
rolls and mother’s love to Judith.” At three 
minutes of six the turkey was on the stove keeping 
hot, the rolls were doing likewise in the oven, the 
table was set for seven, Anne was arranging the 
244 


MOVING IN 


daffodils, Judith was lighting the lamps, Sally and 
Helen were taking a last look around up-stairs, 
the boys were picking up the front path and stow- 
ing burlap, ropes, and odds and ends in the shed. 
Gay and Estelle were in the pantry opening the 
jelly and piling plates high with doughnuts and ‘ 
cake, and Grace was arranging her red geranium 
at precisely the right angle in the kitchen window. 

Oh ! cried Judith, clasping her hands joyfully. 
** Oh, ain't it beautiful ! And it's just the way I 
wanted it to be. It's just right." 

** It sure is," echoed Pat from around the corner 
of a doughnut. Mother'll like it. I guess she'll 
be s'prised." He bolted for the street and a post 
of observation. 

Helen and Sally descended the stairs, taking a 
look at “ mother's room " before turning into the 
living-room. 

“ Doesn't it look nice ! " Helen cried. Oh, 
Anne, don't you like it ? " 

Anne pulled one of the daffodils out of the vase 
on the dining table and started with it toward Mrs. 
French's room. She nodded happily at Helen as 
she passed. 

“ Honk, honk I Honk, honk I " 

“ Coming ! "^yelled Pat, sticking his red head 
through the open front door. 

The honking stopped at the gate. Presto I It 
245 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


might well have been the imperious twelve of 
Cinderella^s fairy ball. Judith rushed to the front 
door, but everybody else rushed to the back. 
Helter skelter they tumbled out, thrusting their 
arms into coats, pinning on hats as they went. 

S-s-sh ! 

Stealthily, a-tiptoe, boys and girls together, they 
stole around the back of the house, climbed a fence, 
ran pell-mell through two neighboring yards, and 
halted behind a screen of bushes up the street. 
From there they reconnoitered, breathless but 
triumphant. 

There's * mother ' I " Helen cried. “ Look ! 
Jack is carrying her in. Judith's got the baby. 
Oh, wouldn't you like to creep up and peek ! " 

Anne took her hand. “ Come home," she said 
firmly. Come home quick." 


246 


CHAPTER XIV 


FRENCH, FRENCH & COMPANY 

The dishes were washed, wiped, and put away 
in the little house under the big sycamore. Don 
and Pat had done them together, while Judith put 
the baby to bed. 

Jack hailed the boys as Pat hung up the dish- 
pan and Don scraped the sink. 

“ Come in when you’re through. I’m calling a 
meeting of the clan.” 

Don nodded. When does she open up ? ” 

** In five minutes sharp.” 

** We’ll be there in one.” 

When they entered the front room Judith was 
smoothing the between-meals table-cloth of brown 
linen and Jack was returning the lamp to position. 
Don and Pat moved their mother’s chair within 
the circle of lamplight, Nick ran for her sewing 
basket, and the French family dropped to seats at 
attention. 

I’ve called this meeting,” Jack said, because, 
as you all know, we’re up against an experiment, 
and if we’re going to pull it off, it’s my idea that 
we’ve got to do it together.” 

247 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


Mrs. French laid her sewing in her lap and 
turned her face on her son. Don and Pat and 
Nick eyed their brother eagerly. Judith nodded. 

« WeVe managed so far to stick together/^ Jack 
continued. Two weeks ago I thought we hadn't 
a chance. Then Cousin Judith stepped in and dis- 
covered us. It was the luckiest thing that ever 
happened to us. We don't want her to be sorry 
she did it. We've got this house to live in and 
Cousin Judith is going to run it for us. She is 
going to run it on what we give her. I have a 
good job, but I can't give her enough. If I could, 
there wouMn't have been any question of sticking 
together. There are a good many of us, you know, 
and we eat a lot. We have to eat a lot to do our 
work. Don and Pat have to go to school. Next 
year Nick will go. Don thinks he ought to stop 
at the end of this year, but we don't want him to 
do that, if we can help it. I want all you fellows 
to have at least a high school education. But 
that's ahead of us. The point is, we must run 
this house and take care of ourselves on what we 
can earn, or — break up. That's the long and 
short of it. We have this summer to see whether 
or not we can do it. The only way to do it is to 
get together and work together. Does everybody 
agree so far ? " 

Sure." 


248 


FRENCH, FRENCH & COMP ANT 

That sounds O. KJ* 

“ It’s true, Jack.” 

Even Nick, feeling very old and grown-up over 
the responsibility that rested on his small shoul- 
ders, gave assent to Jack’s words. 

The keen dark eyes of the head of the family 
traveled searchingly around the intent circle. He 
seemed ^to* be focussing attention on something im- 
portant to be said. 

“If we want to put I this thing through we’ve 
got to pool our funds.” 

They waited for him to go on. 

“ I mean this,” said Jack. “ Every one of us 
who can earn something must turn in all the 
money we earn to — say Cousin Judith. She 
divides it around, so much for rent, for food, 
clothes, coal and wood — all the expenses we can 
foresee. So much for extras. So much to lay by. 
She makes out the budget and we live by it. 
What do you say, mother ? ” 

Mrs. 'French was smiling delicately, proudly, 
delightedly at her oldest son. “ I think it is a 
wonderful plan.” 

“ I’d rather not do it alone,” Judith remon- 
strated. “ You help. Jack.” 

“All right. You and I will make out the 
budget together. But you hold the purse- 
strings.” 


249 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


“Have we got to turn in all we earn?^’ Don 
asked anxiously. 

“ Any objections ? ” 

“ A fellow likes to have a little in his pockets.^^ 

“ Why not make that one of the items on the 
budget ? ” Judith suggested. “ Spending money ? ” 

“ It will have to be a mighty small item,” Jack 
retorted. “ Pretty near too little to see.” 

“ Just enough to rattle,” Pat pleaded. 

“ 1^11 tell you,” said Judith. “ Let's form a 
company, a business company, you know. We'll 
set down on a paper just how much money is put 
in every week and who does it. On the same 
paper we might put down how much we think is 
going out the next week and what for. Then 
when the week is up we can have a meeting and 
report.” 

“ Good scheme.” Jack's dark face kindled. 
“ French, French & Company. Every member 
of the family belongs to it. All in favor of form- 
ing the company say aye.” 

“ Aye ! ” 

“ Aye ! Aye ! ” 

“ The ayes have it. Understand, now, we're a 
company. Every fellow that puts in any money 
holds stock and has a vote, or votes, controlling 
the action of the company.” 

“ What's stock ? ” murmured Nick. 

250 


FRENCH, FRENCH & COMP ANT 

‘‘ I don^t just know/^ Judith told him, “but it 
sounds nice.’' 

“ Cousin Judith ought to vote,” said Gordon, 
“ even if she doesn’t put in any money.” 

“ Of course,” Jack answered. “ Stock in this 
company may also be acquired by putting in a 
certain amount of time to further the interests of 
the company. Cousin Judith puts in about all the 
time she has, barring a couple of hours in school 
and a couple more for study.” 

“ I study more than that,” Judith defended. 

“ Her votes will equal those I get for my wages 
at the garage.” 

“ That’s not fair.” 

“ Yes, it is. You’re contributing as much as I 
am. Isn’t she, mother? ” 

“ You both are doing far more than I wish you 
were. Where would we be without my big son 
and my new daughter ? ” * 

Judith leaned over and patted Mrs. French’s 
hand joyously. 

“ Will I have a vote? ” Nick piped. 

“ You certainly will,” Jack told him. “ Who 
runs errands and sweeps the porch and tends door 
for mother ? ” 

“ And puts away dishes for Judith and picks up 
the kindling wood and does lots of nice things ? ” 

“ Each share of stock in this company stands for 
251 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 

five dollars/' Jack announced. That's fair, isn't 
it ? That is, we each have one vote for every five 
dollars' worth of time or money we contribute to 
the company. And that reminds me, all in favor 
of making Cousin Judith treasurer of French, 
French & Company, say aye." 

The ayes were shouted vociferously. 

^^Myl" said Judith. ^*I'll feel so big being 
treasurer, you may have to put me out of the com- 
pany. 'Tisn't safe, I don't think." 

I'll risk it. Now then, any other ideas, treas- 
urer ? " 

He looked at her until she jumped. ‘‘ You mean 
me, don't you ? I guess I'm not used yet to being 
a treasurer. But I think we'd better have a place 
on that paper you were talking about where we can 
put down pocket money. Then at the end of the 
week, if anybody has some he didn't spend, he can 
turn it into the fund that's laid by and let it count 
on getting him another vote." 

** Cousin Judith, you ought to be running a cor- 
poration." 

‘‘ That's a kind of business, ain't it. Jack ? Well, 
then, I'ni treasurer of a corporation now." 

Pat and Don cheered lustily. 

And I do think," Judith added earnestly, 
“ that we want to put all the money we possibly 
can into the place on the budget that says 4aid by.' 

252 


FRENCH, FRENCH & COMPANY 

Living^s cheaper in summer than winter and Don 
and Pat can earn more, because they won’t be in 
school. We must save all ways we can this sum- 
mer to help us through next winter without taking 
Don out of school.” 

“ We might have a garden,” suggested Pat. 
“ There’s room enough behind the house.” 

That’s the talk 1 ” Jack approved. “ We will 
have a garden.” 

Judith beamed. ** We can ’most live oiF it, come 
summer, and I’ll can beets and peas and corn and 
things to eat next winter. A garden will save lots.” 

It ought to be spaded right away,” said Pat. 
‘‘ The man next door spaded his before breakfast 
yesterday. No bigger’n a pocket handkerchief, 
his is.” 

Ours is going to have some size to it,” said Jack. 

I’ll look up seeds to-morrow.” 

You’d better not buy any until we measure 
the ground and see how long rows we’ll have,” 
Judith suggested. 

That’s right, too. How’d you come to know 
about gardens, Judith ? ” 

Oh, they had ’em at the asylum. Vegetable 
gardens. No flowers. We’ll have some flowers in 
this one, won’t we, mother ? ” 

‘‘ Flowers will be very nice, dear. They make a 
house look like home.” 


253 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 

Then we donT need 'em/^ Judith declared, as 
long as we have you. But I guess we’ll throw in 
a few for luck. There are a lot of bushes against 
the end fence. Currants and raspberries. I didn’t 
know ’em all. And a grape-vine.” 

“ Hooray I ” yelled Don and Pat. “ Us for jelly. 
Hooray I ” 

I have some very fine recipes for jellies and 
preserves that I used to make,” remarked Mrs. 
French. 

We’ll make them together,” said Judith 
promptly. 

There was a plum conserve — I don’t suppose 
we have any plum trees, have we ? ” 

“ There are a lot of little fruit trees back of the 
house,” Judith told her. I don’t know what 
kinds. We didn’t have fruit trees at the asylum.” 

I think they are plum and cherry,” said 
Jack. 

“ The plum conserve was particularly delicious.” 
A faint color had stolen into Mother French’s 
cheeks. “ The recipe was a secret in my mother’s 
family.” 

Judith clapped her hands. “ A secret. Just 
think of that ! And you’re going to tell me. You 
didn’t say that though, did you ? ” 

“ Indeed I shall tell you. How else would we 
make it ? ” 


254 


FRENCH, FRENCH & COMPANT 

“ We^ll be a company within a company — the 
Plum Conserve Company. My, but it sounds 
good ! '' 

‘‘ We haven^t a president, said Jack. After 
we elect, I must go over to the garage. Got some 
work to do.^’ 

You're the president," Judith flashed at him. 
** Isn't he, boys? " 

Sure ! " they agreed. 

What's mother?" Nick asked. 

“ I know." Don lifted his head with a quick 
shy gesture of affection. She's honorary presi- 
dent. That's what mother is." 

Mrs. French smiled tranquilly on them. I 
accept the office with pride. For it is an honor, a 
great honor, to be connected in such a way with 
French, French & Company." 

Jack arose and swept his mother a deep bow. 

The honor is ours, madam." 

Judith watched the scene eagerly. She was 
beginning, as the flrst strangeness wore off, to get 
many glimpses below the surface of family inter- 
course, and what she saw hinted at more of which 
she could only guess. Jack, his dark face glowing, 
saluting with mischievous yet very real deference 
the gentle, delicate-featured lady in the chair, looked 
a very different Jack from the somewhat care-worn 
taciturn chauffeur of Stevenson's Garage. The 
255 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


younger boys, grinning approval, conveyed by 
their very nonchalance an air of familiarity with 
such episodes. It was the way of the family, their 
attitudes seemed to say. Already Judith had 
detected in these fifth cousins ” a gentility, a 
mutual courtesy and high humor, which awoke a 
hitherto unsounded note in her own nature. 

They're different," she said, “ different from any 
people I ever saw before in my life. But you 
wouldn't know it just to look at them." 

Jack turned to the door and Don rose to follow 
him. If you're going to the garage. Jack, I'm 
coming, too." 

Pat made for the opposite door. “ Guess I'll be 
looking up our spading fork." 

Nick bravely tried to hold his eyes open when 
Judith looked at him. 

Do you know anybody," she inquired gravely, 
** who doesn't want to go to bed ? " 

When Judith came down-stairs Mrs. French put 
out her hand and drew the girl down until she 
could kiss her cheek. 

'' You have put new life and hope into us all, 
dear," she said. “ Best of all, you have given me 
a glimpse of my old Jack. I had lost sight of him 
lately in an anxious stranger." 

Judith scarcely heard the words for the caress 
on her cheek. She always thrilled to the touch of 
256 


FRENCH, FRENCH & COMPANT 

Mrs. French’s lips. Mrs. Thayer did it once,” 
she thought, “ and now Mother French does it 
every day. Twice to-day. Twice. I guess I’m 
not an orphan any longer.” 


257 


CHAPTER XV 


THE TWINS MAKE A CALL 

The twins hopped down the path to the gate, 
hopped up on the gate, and began to swing. It 
was a holiday and it was spring and the twins 
knew it. That is, they knew it was Saturday and 
they knew that the odd brown bundles called bulbs 
which they and their mother and Helen had put 
into the ground last autumn were now doing just 
what Helen had said they would do. They were 
brown bundles no longer, but leaves and flowers, 
yellow and white and pink. The twins had spent 
hours watching those bulbs, hours that resulted 
from the addition of many small fractions of time. 
They had announced with jubilation the appear- 
ance of the first green points and had hung in 
palpitating excitement over the swelling buds. 

This morning more than bulbs were required to 
content them. They wanted to do something they 
had never done before and they wanted to do it 
quick. This also was due to the spring, but the 
twins did not know that. They took turns swing- 
ing on the gate and pondered. 

258 


THE TWINS MAKE A CALL 


“ I know,” Tess announced suddenly. Let^s 
go see Judith ^n^ those boys.” 

Ted considered. We went there once. I bet I 
could 'member the way.” 

The boys hadn't come then, only one of 'em.” 
Tess jumped down from the gate and started up 
the path. Hurry up and ask mother I ” 

Ted galloped after her. They made a race of it 
and Tess won. 

Mrs. Thayer listened smilingly. You may go 
for an hour,” she said, “ if you will be careful not 
to get in anybody's way. Can I trust my twinnies 
to come home if they see Judith's cousins are too 
busy to have them about ? ” 

The twins promised. 

May we stay till twelve o'clock ? ” Tess pleaded. 
If they'd like to have us ? ” 

It's awful hard to tell an hour,” Ted explained, 
when there ain't any noise to go by.” 

“ There's whistles at twelve o'clock,” Tess 
added. 

Twelve o'clock then, if they are not too busy. 
And — twinnies ! ” 

They returned reluctantly. 

“ Are you sure you remember the way ? ” 

Certain sure.” 

Just tell me.” 

They told her, both together, at top speed. 

259 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


Don’t forget before you cross any street to look 
both ways and see if there are autos coming.” 

‘‘ We won’t forget, honest we won’t.” 

And — twinnies 1 ” 

Again they retraced their departing steps. 

“ Give my love to Judith and tell her that she is 
to send you home if you are in the way.” 

** Yes’m. Maybe Judith won’t be there.” 

Then do what Mrs. French tells you. Twin- 
nies 1 ” 

They paused in the doorway this time. 

Are your hands clean ? ” 

Four palms shot out in evidence. 

They might be cleaner. I think you’d better 
wash them. And don’t forget the soap.” 

When I’m a man,” Ted declared as he scrubbed 
hastily, ''I’m never goin’ to wash myself, not 
never.” 

" Not when you get up in the mornin’ ? ” 

" Not when I get up in the mornin ’ I ” 

" Then I shan’t play with you,” said Tess. 
"You’d be a dirty man, if you didn’t wash at 
all.” 

" Maybe I’ll wash once,” Ted conceded. 
" Maybe I’ll wash when I get up— just once.” 

"You didn’t do the backs of ’em.” Tess 
pointed. 

" I ain’t a-goin’ to.” 


260 


THE TWINS MAKE A CALL 


0-o-o-oh I 

He snatched the soap. There now I 
^Bye, mother ! 

** Good-bye, twinnies.” 

They pranced forth jubilantly. 

Beat you to the corner I Ted cried. 

They reached it abreast. 

‘‘ Watch out now I ” warned Tess. 

Hand in hand, they stood poised, scanning the 
street. Then they scampered across the road and 
danced on up the sidewalk. 

In front of the little house whither they had 
brought the rolls, the twins paused to reconnoiter. 
The door stood open, but there was no one in sight, 
not even a cat. 

Orter be a cat,^^ Ted grumbled. 

Hand in hand once more, sedately now, the 
twins paced up the path between the budded 
syringas. At the open door they paused again. 

Ted nudged Tess. You do it I 

Tess nudged Ted. ** No, you ! ” 

We might try the back door,’^ he suggested. 

She pulled the bell. Their hands gripped 
tighter as they waited. Their eyes rounded in 
half fearful expectation. 

Steps crossed the floor, odd steps, slow, light, a 
bit uncertain. Into the hall before the open door 
toddled a brown eyed baby in checked rompers. 

261 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 

He halted a moment, only to advance, smiling 
chubbily. 

Coom in I said the baby gravely. ** Coom 
in I He put out his hand. Take off oo 
sings.” 

Tess hugged him on the spot and he laughed at 
her adorably. 

Coom an' play,” he commanded. ** Dick 
wants to play.” 

That's a nice kid,” Ted approved. 

The twins, convoyed by the baby, straggled 
across the threshold into a room where a lady sat 
in a chair, sewing. The lady did not get up, but 
she smiled at them. By this the twins knew her 
for the lady who could not walk. Helen had told 
them about her, but she had not been able to tell 
them why she could not walk. It was a matter 
that exercised the twins' curiosity greatly. The 
minute they saw her face they made up their 
minds to ask her — some time. 

Tess advanced politely. '' I'm Tess and this is 
my brother Ted. Mother said we might come and 
play, if we'd mind you. We can stay till twelve 
o'clock, if we don't bother.” 

I am sure you won't bother,” said the lady, 
nodding pleasantly. “ What is your last name, 
dear?” 

Before they had time to answer Judith was in 
262 



THE TWINS KNEW HER 









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THE TWINS MAKE A CALL 

the room. The twins liked Judith. She always 
treated them as though she and they were exactly 
the same age. 

Why, it's the twins ! ” Judith cried. I won- 
dered how long before you'd get around to come to 
see us. Helen Thayer's brother and sister, mother. 
You've heard Helen speak of the twins." 

Indeed I have ! " said the sitting-down lady. 
Her voice held a warm note that the twins liked. 
They, too, wondered why they hadn't come before. 

Dick went to the door, dear." 

I might have known Dick would tend door 
when my fingers were all dough." Judith picked 
up the baby and snuggled her face into his neck. 
His laugh rang out lustily. 

** Nick is in the kitchen," said Judith. “ Don's 
in the wood-shed. Pat's away working this morn- 
ing." 

Pat has red hair," Tess observed. 

“ Yes. He's the one you know." 

What's he doing? " Ted asked. 

“ Cutting folks' grass. Mr. Lawrence sent around 
this morning, mother, to know if Pat could take 
his on. Pat will have his hands full at this rate." 

That's better than having them empty, 
daughter." 

Lots better." Tess noticed that Judith dropped 
a kiss on the sitting-down lady's cheek. 

263 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 

** Does he do it with one of those machines that 
has knives? Ted inquired. 

‘‘Cut the grass? That’s just what he does it 
with.” 

“ I’d like to be him I ” said Ted. 

“ So’d I,” said Tess. “ It must be fun to run 
one of those machines.” 

“ Pat’s doing it for the money,” said Judith. 
“ People pay him when he cuts their grass.” 

“ Much as a nickel ? ” queried Tess. 

“ Ten times a nickel.” 

The twins blinked. Pat appeared to them in 
the guise of a millionaire. But that was part of 
the pleasure of being in Judith’s company; you 
made so many interesting new discoveries. 

“ You know where to find the boys when you 
want them,” Judith said. “ Now I must go back 
to my baking. I shouldn’t wonder if there’d be a 
cooky ready by and by. I left Nick cutting them 
out.” 

It was always like that in Judith’s house, the 
twins found. She told you where you could lay 
your hands on people and things and left you to 
select for yourself. It took Ted and Tess very 
little time to decide to investigate Nick and the 
kitchen. Nick proved to be a slender boy, not 
so brown as Ted, nor so quick as Tess, but with a 
positive genius for cutting out cookies. He made 
264 


THE TWINS MAKE A CALL 


dogs and cats and even boys that you knew at 
once for the things they were meant to be. Ted 
and Tess tried to compete with him and failed 
lamentably. But if they could not mould, their 
ability to eat was unhampered. They ate until 
Judith steered them dexterously on to Don in the 
wood-shed. 

Don was tinkering a bicycle. Even cookies pale 
before a bicycle in pieces. The twins squatted 
beside Don and asked questions, and Nick squatted 
beside the twins. It was a wonderful morning. 
Twelve o^clock put an end to it altogether too 
soon. The twins could not believe that it really 
was twelve o^clock until t.he noon whistles had 
driven them to consult the clock in the kitchen. 
Even then they thought that the clock must have 
made a mistake. 

Why, weVe only been here a minute I Ted 
exclaimed. 

One teenty minute ! Tess echoed. 

They went home with their heads full of ideas. 
At dinner they unloaded as many of these as pos- 
sible on their mother and Helen. 

Don’s doin’ bicycles,” Ted finished. He 
buys ’em when they’re no good ’n’ fixes ’em 
up. He picked one off a nash heap, he did, ’n’ 
fixed it up good as new, ’n’ sold it for ten dol- 
lars ! ” 


265 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


** Ten dollars I ” Tess squealed. An’ it didn’t 
cost him a cent.” 

Not a cent,” Ted reiterated. “ Gee, I’d like to 
make money I ” 

'' Mayn’t we, mother ? Mayn’t we ? ” they be- 
sought together. 

'' May you what? ” 

Mayn’t we make money ? The way those 
French fellows do,” Ted finished. 

When you are a little older,” said Mrs. Thayer. 

Seems if every single thing we wanted to do 
we can’t ’cause we’re not old enough,” grumbled 
Tess. 

Wisht we could grow a year in one night,” said 
Ted. 

** Ho I I’d grow two ! ” squealed his twin. “ I’d 
grow three, four, I’d grow six years 1 That’s how 
much I’d grow all in one night.” 

Debating this possibility, the two regained their 
good-nature. They continued to debate it under 
the lilacs after dinner until Ted ended the whole 
discussion. 

^‘Huh!” he said, what’s the use talkin’? I 
s’pose we’ll go creepin’ ’long just the way we 
always have.” 

Dejection again shadowed their spirits. 

“ It don’t seem so awful hard,” Tess said at last. 

What don’t?” 


266 


THE TWINS MAKE A CALL 


“ Earnin^ money, the way Don does/^ 

He said ^twasn^t hard,^^ said Ted. 

Tess's eyes brightened. He told us how he 
did it, too.^^ 

Ted nodded. * You get somethin^ old,’ he said, 

‘ ’n’ no good, ’n’ you fix it up ’ ” 

* Good ’s new,’ ” interpolated Tess. 

** * Good ’s new, ’n’ then you sell it for four, five 
times what you gave for it.’ ” 

** That’s what he said,” Tess agreed proudly. 
Let’s do it.” 

Let’s.” 

Where you goin’ ? ” 

“ To shake some money out of our bank.” 

“ We shook some out last week,” he reminded 
her. 

** It rattled this mornin’ ; I tried it.” 

They clattered up-stairs and gained the bank. 
The noise of its contents revealed an all too 
roomy interior. The twins shook briskly, turn 
and turn about, until they had abstracted six 
pennies. 

“ Guess that’s enough,” said Ted. Come on 
an’ spend it.” 

“ What’ll we get ? ” 

** I dunno yet.” 

** Mother’ll be s’prised.” 

He admitted the fact. 

267 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


Dot^s got a doll with an arm gone. I don't 
s’pose she'd sell it." 

“ We don't want any old doll." 

“ No, I guess we don't." 

Ben Page broke his 'locipede." 

*‘Why, Ted Thayer, you know that 'locipede 
wasn't any good to start with I " 

“ I bet Ben'd sell it cheap," Ted argued. 

Don found that bicycle on a nash heap," Tess 
reminded him. 

Ted brightened. That's so," he agreed. “ Let's 
look." 

The twins, who knew to a detail the possibilities 
of every yard on the street, trotted off hopefully. 
The solitary ash pile of their acquaintance had 
hitherto never impressed them as concealing mag- 
nificent booty, but that was very likely due to the 
fact that they had not understood what to expect. 
Now that they knew the capabilities of ash piles 
they might find something. Alas ! This ash heap 
yielded no treasure, though they picked it over 
carefully, coal by coal, and even prodded it with 
sticks. 

** Ain't nothin' here," observed at last a small 
figure coated with gray ash. 

I 'spect 'tisn't the right kind," assented his 
dusty twin. 

'Spect not." 


268 


THE TWINS MAKE A CALL 


The two retired from the ash pile, checked but 
not defeated. 

Ginger's got a 'spress cart," Ted remarked as 
they sauntered down the street. 'Tain't no good 
now." 

“ Ginger's got chicken-pox, 'n' you can't talk to 
him." 

Yes, you can, too, through the window." 

Obviously there was hope here. The twins re- 
paired rapidly to the corner, and stationing them- 
selves under the window of Ginger's room, fired 
pebbles at it until Ginger's face appeared in the 
opening. 

“ Hello ! " said Ginger. 

Hello yourself! " said Ted. 

You can't come up here," Ginger informed 
them. If you did, you'd catch it." 

Don't wanter come up," Ted told him. Say, 
Ginger, are they bad ? " 

Bad 'nough." Here Ginger attempted to look 
sicker than he felt. You don't want 'em. Yes, 
they're sure bad." 

Ted wished to ask for particulars, but he kept 
heroically to the matter in hand. You could not 
count on such an interview's lasting indefinitely 
without interruption. 

Where's your 'spress cart. Ginger? " 

In the tool-house. Why ? " 

269 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


** It^s no good.’^ 

Oh, I dunno. It ain^t so bad.” 

It’s all broke up, Ginger Faulkes,” Tess 
admonished him, an’ you know it.” 

What’ll you sell it for ? ” 

Sell it nothin’.” 

“ Five cents?” 

“ Five cents ? Sell a ’spress cart for five cents ? 
What’s the kid talkin’ about ? ” 

** Give you six,” said Ted, ‘‘ an’ not another 
penny.” 

** That cart’s a good cart,” said Ginger. 

Bet we couldn’t find the pieces if we was to 
look for ’em,” Tess cut in. 

“ Take me ? ” Ted demanded. 

Let’s see your money.” 

With some difiiculty Ted detached the six pen- 
nies from the accumulation of other matter in his 
pockets and spread them out on his upturned palm. 

They look all right,” acknowledged the 
imprisoned Ginger. Lift up the third board 
from the door as you go into the tool-house. 
There’s a tin box under it. Leave the money in 
that box ’n’ put back the board. You’ll find the 
’spress cart somewhere round. One side’s gone an’ 
the back’s busted. The handle ain’t quite as good 
as new, either.” 

Ginger’s voice stopped abruptly and the twins 
270 


THE TWINS MAKE A CALL 


scampered. Through the window where Ginger 
had stood descended the tones of Ginger’s mother 
in company with another voice that the twins 
knew well. It required no particular mental 
prowess to deduce the fact that Ginger was receiv- 
ing a call from the doctor. 

Ted and Tess lost no time in completing their 
purchase. The six pennies were deposited in the 
baking-powder can Ginger had indicated. The 
express cart, as much of it as could be assembled, 
was conveyed by its new owners to their own terri- 
tory. In the Thayer wood-shed, with hammer and 
nails and the covers of old grape baskets, the twins 
set to work valiantly. They soon decided that 
Gordon French came honestly by all the money 
he earned. If mending old bicycles was harder 
than mending a broken express cart, Ted and Tess 
thought Don might profitably try another busi- 
ness. But they were persistent little souls and 
with the help of some string and a pot of glue, 
which they purloined from the pantry and whose 
contents they daubed as plentifully on themselves 
as on the cart, they achieved at least a working 
compromise with victory. If not as good as 
new,” the cart had four sides which held together 
— one of them, to be sure, so half-heartedly as to 
indicate great reluctance — and a tongue which had 
resumed its original length and promised, if given 
271 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


careful handling, to keep company for a time, at 
least, with its body. Furthermore the twins had 
discovered some red chalk and had retouched the 
lettering on the side. Inasmuch as the lettering 
had been nearly obliterated when the cart came 
into their possession, this was almost an original 
measure, and the twins loved it accordingly. In- 
deed there was nothing about the cart they did 
not admire. Patched and shaky and ramshackle 
as it was, Ted and Tess saw in it a glorious achieve- 
ment. 

‘‘ You have to be a little careful,^' Tess ac- 
knowledged. 

Everybody has to be careful of things,^' Ted 
replied with a wisdom he did not always apply. 

Who’ll we sell it to ? ” Tess asked. 

We’ll take it out on the street,” Ted said. 

Maybe somebody’ll come along and ask to buy 
it.” 

They will if they see it,” said Tess. 

The street appeared to be deserted. This was 
unusual, but those children who were not enter- 
taining chicken-pox at their own homes had gone 
to the woods in search of spring flowers, an expe- 
dition so hastily organized that Ted and Tess in 
their preoccupation with the ash pile had missed 
it. For two minutes the twins paraded the street 
on their own side, carefully leading the express 
272 


THE TWINS MAKE A CALL 


cart by its delicate tongue. Then they crossed 
over and paraded the opposite sidewalk. The 
twins were not very old and their patience was not 
long. It relieved them greatly to see Mr. Lathrop. 

The twins and Mr. Lathrop were staunch friends. 
They had been on amicable terms all winter ; in- 
deed, the twins had forgotten that there ever was 
a time when they did not know the tall white- 
mustached gentleman who lived in the brick house 
across the street. They frisked up to him now, 
exercising due care for the cart. 

Want to buy a ^spress cart? Ted queried. 

“ Good ^s new,” piped Tess. Then she corrected 
herself. “ Most as good, anyway.” 

‘‘ You can carry things in it, if youTe careful,” 
Ted urged. 

Tess smiled bewitchingly. ‘‘ Are you goin^ to 
move ? ” 

<< Er — I had not thought of doing so.” 

“ It takes carts to move,” Ted jumped at his 
twines idea. 

If you werenT goin^ far,” said Tess, I ^spect 
you could put things in here an^ just draw ^em 
right over, cups ^n’ saucers ^n^ things that break.” 

It seems plausible. May I ask why you are 
anxious to sell ? ” 

They replied in one breath. '‘To make money.” 

'' Your need, I take it, is urgent.” 

273 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


They blinked. 

May I ask why you wish to earn money ? 

The flood-gates opened. Phrases were flung up 
on the rising tide of speech. Ted and Tess talked 
both together at top speed. 

** Don does.^^ 

** Don does it with bicycles 

good ^s new. He got ten dollars for one 

he picked off* a nash heap.’^ 

Mother said to wait till we^re older, but what^s 
the use 

** They all do, ^cept Dick ^n’ Nick 'n^ the sitting- 
down lady. I guess Judith donT either, but 

** Pat cuts grass, but we^d ruther mend things 
the way Don does.^^ 

** He^s got to stop school if he donT make more 
money.’^ 

Before the twins knew it they were sitting, one 
on either side of Mr. Lathrop, on the marble steps 
behind the iron fence, rehearsing, turn and turn 
about, the story of their visit to Judith’s house. 
In the course of the recital Mr. Lathrop learned 
much, for the twins’ curiosity, always lively, had 
that morning been particularly insatiable, their 
questions endless, and Gordon French had found 
it amusing to answer them as he would not those 
of an older questioner. 

** On the whole,” Mr. Lathrop told them at last, 
274 


THE TWINS MAKE A CALL 


I find myself in agreement with your mother. 
If I were you, I think I would wait a few years 
before undertaking to add greatly by my own 
exertions to my income.’^ 

Would you ? 

‘‘ I certainly would. As for this cart, I have a 
strong desire to purchase just such an article. I 
cannot say I was looking for it, but now that I see 
it, I recognize its utility. May I inquire what 
price you put upon it ? 

Ted and Tess consulted behind cupped hands. 

** ^Scuse us,’^ they apologized. 

“ How much is four times six ? 

Twenty-seven,” Ted hazarded a hasty guess. 

“ Tisn’t either. It's nineteen — twenty — twenty- 
one I ” Tess announced. 

‘‘ It's more'n that.” 

** Let's ask him.” 

Appealed to, Mr. Lathrop gravely furnished the 
required figure. 

‘‘ I guess we'd better take off* a speck,” Ted sug- 
gested, 'cause you do have to be careful.” 

An' 'cause we like him,” Tess whispered. 

Twenty-four cents is a nawful lot.” 

Make it twenty-two,” said Ted. 

Tess wagged her head in violent approbation. 

Mr. Lathrop settled the account with as matter 
of fact an air as though he had been paying a bill 
275 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 

of twenty-two dollars instead of twenty-two cents. 
Then he shook hands with each of the twins and 
taking the ludicrous little cart by the tongue went 
into the house while Ted and Tess frisked home 
with the proceeds of their afternoon's industry. 
Their reception, as sometimes happens in this 
world, varied widely from that which they felt 
they had a right to expect. 

Oh, mother I mother I " groaned their sister 
Helen. To Mr. Lathrop of all people ! How 
could they I I shall never dare to look him in the 
face again." 

Mother herself failed of enthusiasm. 

Well," she said, if you must cry, run up-stairs 
to your own room. I am going right over to see 
Mr. Lathrop. Stay here, children, till I come 
back." 

Times were serious when mother said children." 
Their noses pressed against the window-pane, the 
twins watched her hurry across the street. She 
was gone a long time, a very long time. When 
she came back, she was smiling. She sat down in 
the biggest chair in the room and opened her arms 
and the tearful twins crept into them. Then 
mother began to talk gently but decidedly. As 
she talked the twins saw light, though neither 
then nor later did they see enough to fathom their 
sister Nell's agitation. 


276 


THE TWINS MAKE A CALL 


Helen was lying face downward across her bed, 
sobbing hard, when mother and the twins went 
up-stairs. Mother sent Ted and Tess on to their 
own room and, sitting down on the bed, patted her 
daughter's shoulder. 

Cheer up, Nell. I think you may hold up 
your head again." 

Helen groaned. What does he think of us ! " 
What he said was, ‘ My dear madam, this cart 
is worth much more to me than what I paid 
for it.' " 

The girl whirled over. But, mother, how could 
it be worth anything ? " 

I didn't ask him," said Mrs. Thayer. ** I did 
not consider it becoming in the twins' mother to 
question the gentleman's word. Besides, I saw the 
cart." 

Mother I " 

“Oh, Mr. Lathrop and I talked too, dearie. 
Yes, I am inclined to believe that from every point 
of view he was only speaking the truth." 

Across the street, Anne's grandfather was oc- 
cupied at the moment in showing Anne his pur- 
chase. 

“ Those funny twins I " breathed the girl when 
she could speak. 

“ I have acquired two new vehicles to-day, 
Anne," he said whimsically. “ This — er — wagon- 
277 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


ette and Should you care to have an automo- 

bile in the family ? 

A big fast one ? ” 

A very big, very fast one, Anne/' 

I should like that, grandfather." 

The next thing," remarked Mr. Lathrop, 
** will be to find the right chauffeur." 

I know I " Anne cried. Jack French." 

** Possibly," said Mr. Lathrop. I had thought 
of his brother Gordon." 


278 


CHAPTER XVI 


THE HERMIT AGAIN 

The treasurer of French, French & Company 
bent over a column of figures. Her brow was un- 
doubtedly puckered. Nobody had ever seen Ju- 
dith scowl before. Nobody saw her now. The 
doors that led out of the pretty blue bedroom were 
shut and Judith was quite alone. 

There's no use talking." Softly she addressed 
the little round clock on the table. There’s no 
use talking. We simply must make more money 
if we are to get through next winter." 

The clock ticked back at her precisely as it had 
ticked before. The clock never worried. Judith 
sometimes could not help it. For one reason, the 
clock never looked ahead. Calmly and steadily it 
measured the present hour. Judith enjoyed the 
present hour to the full. Was not the garden grow- 
ing so fast you could almost see the green shoots 
lengthen as you watched ? Were not the boys 
busy adding to their holdings in the company ? 
But the treasurer of a corporation must forecast the 
279 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


future as well as enjoy the present. It was next 
winter that bothered Judith. Next winter was 
the crux of her hopes and fears. 

She put away her paper and the frown vanished 
from her forehead. It was as though, having 
stated the fact of need, she erased the worry. If 
you had to have money, there was nothing to do 
but get money. 

And Don^s not going to quit school, either,’' 
she told the clock. 

Its round face had nothing to say on the subject 
but tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock. To Judith this 
must have appeared satisfactory, for she nodded. 

Yes, that’s it,” she agreed. Keep on going. 
Keep on going and do the best you can. We’ve 
made out splendidly so far. But we are going to 
do a little better.” 

Then she opened the door and went into the 
kitchen to start supper. Five hungry boys can 
consume a prodigious amount of food. Their ap- 
petites kept Judith’s hands as busy as their muscles 
and brains kept her head. 

Sounds from the front of the house announced 
the arrival of one or more of the boys. Judith’s 
trained ear noted an unwonted exuberance in the 
tumult. Two minutes later the kitchen door burst 
open and Don entered walking on his hands, wav- 
ing his feet in the air. He took a couple of hand- 
280 


THE HERMIT AGAIN 


springs across the kitchen and came upright before 
Judith with a bound. 

The girl swept him a quick appraising glance 
and her hold tightened on the saucepan in her 
hand. 

YouVe got news — good news.” 

Righto. Guess again.” 

I can't. Tell me quick.” 

** It's a job,” said Don. Steady. Begins as 
soon as I can qualify. That will be in a couple of 
days, you bet.” 

Oh, Don, I'm so glad I But you haven't told 
me what it is yet.” 

Chauffeur. Chauffeur to Mr. Lathrop. What 
do you think of that, Cousin Ju?” 

Judith tried to clap her hands with the sauce- 
pan still in her grasp, found the manoeuver diffi- 
cult, and hastily set the skillet on the stove. 

“ Oh, Don I I didn't know Mr. Lathrop had a 
car.” 

Just got it. A dandy, too. Peacherina. Bet 
she can beat everything else in this town. Fifty 
dollars a month — that's me.” 

Don ! ” 

“ You can salt most of it down for next winter. 
Miss Treasurer. I'll tell you that right now.” 

Don blinked at the glory in Judith's face. 

‘‘ I will. You don't know what a load that's 
281 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 

taken off my mind. We'll pull through now. I 
know we'll pull through." 

The boy stared at her. Say, did things look 
black?" 

For next winter, yes. I couldn't see how 

Now I'm beginning to see light." 

“ Why didn't you tell a fellow ? " 

Weren't you doing the best you could ? What 
was the use worrying you ? " 

“ Well, I'm doing better now." 

She twinkled joyously at him. You're doing 
great." 

They shook hands on it emphatically. 

“But school!" cried Judith. “What about 
school ? " 

“ That's all right. I'm to drive the car after 
school hours for the next fortnight and when fall 
comes. Mr. Lathrop doesn't want to be out all the 
time, he says." 

Judith returned to her machinations with the 
saucepan and Don began to wash his hands at the 
sink. 

“I didn't know you could run a car, Don." 
The girl spoke over her shoulder. 

“ Jack taught me. I made him. Why, I've 
known how to run a car 'most as long as Jack has. ' 
But I haven't a license. That's what I've got to 
get before I can touch Mr. Lathrop's. Just wait 
282 


THE HERMIT AGAIN 

till you see her, Cousin Ju. Gee, but she^s a 
b'eaut I 

The boy dried hands and face and came over to 
the stove. Want me to swish that milk round ? ” 

Judith relinquished the spoon. I^m so glad, 
it makes me sort of crazy. Keep it going while I 
get the potato. 

When the two heads bent once more above the 
stove Don spoke. See here, if you get worried 
again — about any old thing — just speak to me, 
wonT you ? 

Judith smiled at him. “ I will, Don. Yes, I 
will.^^ 

** Thaf s all right then.'^ 

Don relinquished the spoon and, hearing Jack's 
step, sauntered in with mock carelessness to tell 
him the news, while Judith hastily beat up an 
omelette. 

** We just had to celebrate somehow," she apolo- 
gized later to an excited tableful, and now that 
we're raising our own hens, I guess we can eat all 
the eggs they'll give us, without stopping to count 
on our fingers. This is your omelette, Don." 

“ Sure it's yours, Don," said his brother Jack. 

It's yours, and here's to more of 'em ! " 

The French family ate a jubilant meal. Every- 
body was hungry and happy and proud. The 
hungriest may have been the boys, but the hap- 
283 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


piest and the proudest was certainly Judith. But 
then, as she would have explained, she was mak- 
ing up for lost time, and when you have a good 
deal of lost time to make up for, you have a right 
to annex the superlatives. 

“ Just the same,” she told the little clock on her 
table when she went to bed, ‘‘ I am going down to 
see Grant and Myers in two or three days. I can^t 
have those boys put in all the money that does 
this firm^s business.” 

Grant and Myers's was popularly accounted the 
best grocery in town, and Judith approached it 
fearfully, but without embarrassment. Judith 
never thought enough about herself to be awkward 
or ill at ease. The mere suggestion of an inter- 
view in a private office would either have dismayed 
or unduly uplifted most girls. Judith met it as a 
matter of course and, following directions, presented 
to the bald-headed rotund Mr. Myers her usual 
cheerful front. It was not of him or his partner 
that Judith was afraid. 

** Preserves ? ” The man writing at the desk 
echoed her modest question without rising. 
‘‘Jams? Jellies? My dear young lady, did you 
look at our shelves ? ” 

Judith privately registered a note that she was 
not his dear young lady. Aloud she said, “ I 
meant something home-made, sir. That tastes dif- 
284 


THE HERMIT AGAIN 


ferent from the factory kind, you know. Why, if 
I had to buy things like that at a store like this 
store and I found something that tasted as though 
a real mother had made it, in a real kitchen, 
cooked on a real stove — a family stove, you know, 

sir Well, if I had money enough I’d buy 

every bit you had and take it home and just live 
on it.” 

Mr. Myers drew his shaggy eyebrows together. 

So you’d buy me out, would you, miss ? ” 

Judith’s wide smile erased all her freckles. I 
would, if I had the money.” 

Mr. Myers, meeting that smile and the gray 
eyes that twinkled from the midst of it, like a 
pair of friendly human stars, shoved his letter 
aside and wheeled his chair from the desk. ** Sit 
down. Sit down. What do you know about the 
taste of things that mother used to make ? ” 

“ Nothing. That’s why I thought folks would 
like it.” 

** Oh, you did.” Mr. Myers did not know ex- 
actly what to understand by this answer, but to 
his own surprise he did not feel at liberty to press 
the question. Well, well. There’s something in 
the idea. I’ll not deny it. Those jars on our 
shelves hold pretty good stuff, though. Brought 
along any of yours with you ? ” 

No,” said Judith. But I’ll bring you some, 
285 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


just as soon as the fruit is ripe. Then you can try 
it yourself, sir, on your own table, and see if the 
taste is right.^^ 

You feel pretty sure, young lady.^^ 

Judith nodded at him confidentially. ** One of 
the recipes has been a secret in Mother Frenches 
family for ^most a hundred years.^^ 

** You don't say so ! Well, well. If it's all you 
say, we’ll market it for you. Might be able to 
place it in the city, too. Mind, I'm making no 
promises. All depends on the stuff. Put it up in 
fancy jars — something like this." He reached 
down from a shelf a quaintly shaped blue jar. 
Beside it he set a curved glass with a screw top. 
** Jellies in that. Something different. Catch the 
eye. That's what sells goods. Get the idea? 
H'm, I thought you would. Well, well. Leave 
me your name, young lady. And don't forget my 
samples." 

I won’t, sir. And thank you, sir." 

Don't thank me yet. We'll talk business after 
I've tasted your wares.” 

Mr. Myers sat down after closing the office door 
on his caller, conscious of a distinctly pleasant 
sensation which he was unable to locate. H'm," 
he muttered, inspecting the name and address she 
had written for him. '' H'm. Never heard of her. 
Judith French. That girl would make a good 
286 


THE HERMIT AGAIN 


tonic. Takes ten years off a man’s shoulders to 
see her grin. I didn’t want her jellies. What do 
we want of more jellies ? Got all we can carry 
now. It may be good stuff, though. That girl 
won’t try to do business with any but good stuff. 
You can see it in her eye. Well, well. If it’s 
good, I guess we can sell it for her.” 

Judith left the store, walking on air, not pave- 
ment. 

“ If we haven’t enough in our own garden. I’ll 
buy some berries and plums,” the girl thought. 

In quantities I ought to get ’em fairly cheap. 
The boys must have all the jelly they want to eat. 
Boys like jelly, and I’ll not scrimp ’em.” 

Fingers caught her arm. 

“Judith I” cried Anne. “Judith, why don’t 
you speak to us ? ” 

A long gray car was drawn up at the curb, a car 
filled to overfiowing with girls. Don sat at the 
wheel, grinning. The girls were talking all at 
once, and, as Judith perceived with surprise, to her. 

“ What in the world were you thinking about so 
hard?” 

“ We called you and called you and you never 
paid the least attention to us.” 

“ After making us chase you through a whole 
street, Judith French, I think you’d better explain 
matters.” 


287 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


** Hop in quick. Anne^s taking us for a ride.^^ 

** We stopped at your house and you weren^t 
there.^’ 

Now don’t say you can’t, because you’ve got to. 
We’re christening the car. Isn’t it splendid I ” 
Half a dozen hands pulled Judith into the ton- 
neau, while six ecstatic voices pointed out the 
machine’s beauties. 

“ The chauffeur is all right, too,” Anne finished 
gravely. 

Everybody assented jubilantly as the car slipped 
from between the houses into the beautiful country. 
Everybody was in a mood to assent to any proposi- 
tion this afternoon and to do it with emphasis. 
The young green of trees and bushes, the high blue 
of the sky and the golden warmth of the sun, the 
swift easy flight of the car, the fact of their being 
together, — all intoxicated them. They babbled 
nonsense. 

Oh, Anne,” they said, “ we’re so glad you have 
a grandfather.” 

“ And so glad he has a car.” 

And a granddaughter, too.” 

Oh, Anne, we’re so glad we know you ! ” 
Somebody noticed where they were going. 
** Oh I oh I It’s the road to Maywood.” 

“ Here’s the spring,” Estelle cried. ‘‘ Now then, 
look quick, everybody ! ” 

288 


THE HERMIT AGAIN 


Slower, Don,^^ Anne implored. ** Slower I 

The car slackened speed. F. O. C. peered search- 
ingly. 

“ You canT I ** Grace cried. You canT see a 
single one of those iron animals except these lions 
at the gate.^^ 

“ You can hardly see there^s any house at all.^' 

Gay waved her hand. “ Howdy do, Mr. 
Hermit 

“Is that where the hermit lives Judith 
asked Helen. “Where you girls came last Feb- 
ruary ? 

“ When he roared at us,’' Helen said. 

“ I don’t feel the way I did then,” Grace re- 
marked. “ Now I wouldn’t mind going by that 
house again. That time I — I didn’t want to stay 
anywhere near it.” 

“ We noticed you didn’t, Gracie,” Gay agreed. 

“ When we come back,” Anne said, “ we will 
come this way. And please go very slowly, Don.” 

They all thought of it afterward, how gayly and 
light-heartedly they had twice run by the strange, 
desolate place, its mysteries hidden from prying 
eyes by the green curtain of wild grape-vines pend- 
ent from the trees behind the wall. Only Judith 
had grown sober as she gazed. 

“ Think of living alone in that house when you 
could patch it up and fill it with folks ! ” she ex- 
289 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 

claimed. It must be awful to want to do a thing 
like that.” 

^‘It suits the hermit,” Gay retorted easily. 
** Your esteemed great-uncle-that-isn^t, J. French, 
doesn^t take kindly to callers. He discouraged all 
our advances.” 

“We might just as well not have gone,” said 
Estelle. “ I dreamed of him for a week after- 
ward.” 

“ Of his roar, Stella ? You didn^t see him, you 
know.” 

“ Of his roar,” Estelle acknowledged. “ That 
was more than I wanted of the hermit.” 

“ I should say so,” Grace cut in. “ We didn^t 
gain anything by that trip.” 

“ We found out that he wasn^t the great-uncle,” 
said Helen. 

“ I'm sorry for him,” Judith declared. “ It 
makes me feel real bad to think of anybody's living 
the way he's living. It doesn't seem human, some- 
way. I wonder, didn't he ever have any folks ? ” 

Afterward they knew that even before they 
drove by, chattering and peering, tragedy had 
touched the place guarded by the couchant lions. 
Tragedy was brooding over it in the sunny after- 
noon while they jested. 

“ He was dead then,” said Estelle shivering. 

“ Yes,” agreed Grace, “ because when they found 
290 


THE HERMIT AGAIN 


him this morning he had been dead two days, and 
it was day before yesterday we were by there in 
Anne^s car/^ 

**How did they know it had been two days?” 
Helen asked. 

'*They just guessed, I suppose.” Grace was 
never at a loss for a suggestion. 

Think of living so you could die and nobody 
know it for two whole days,” said Gay. 

And then have it only found out by chance,” 
Mary added. 

‘‘ By chance ? ” Helen asked. 

The man who has delivered groceries at the 
hermit^s every week as long as he^s lived there dis- 
covered this week when he got home that he had 
forgotten to leave one of the things — some cereal, 
I think father said. It was too late to go back last 
night so he drove out this morning. He’d never 
taken things clear up to the house, you know, and 
he had never once in all these years seen the her- 
mit. His orders were to leave certain things on a 
certain day in a certain place. Well, this morning 
when he went back with the cereal he found all 
the other things just where he lef^ vthem yester- 
day. That made him think something might be 
wrong, so he went up to the house. And he found 
him.” 

Found the hermit? ” Sally whispered. 

291 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


“ Sitting in a kind of garden place, the man 
said. At least there were a lot of bushes around, 
with paths running through them 

“ Where we saw him,’^ Gay interpolated. 

“ The hermit was sitting in a chair made against 
a tree. The trunk of the tree made the back of 
the chair and the arms were branches. The chair 
faced the east. They think that he was watching 
the sunrise when it happened.’^ 

'' I^m glad he was out-of-doors,*^ said Helen. 

Why ? ** Sally asked. ‘‘ It seems queer — to 
die — out-of-doors.** 

‘‘ If you had seen that house close to, you 
wouldn*t ask why,** Gay told her. 

“ I wish we hadn*t joked so much about him day 
before yesterday,** said Estelle. 

We didn*t joke much,** said Sally. 

I waved my hand to him,** Gay mourned. 

** Judith was sorry for him,** Helen reminded 
them. Let*s remember that.** 

Father says that except for you three girls not 
a soul has seen that man*s face for twenty years,** 
Mary remarked. 

“ My goodness ! ** Grace said. “ Think of not 
having anybody to talk to for twenty years.** 

Nobody smiled. 

Grandfather is down there to-day,** Anne said. 

Then they all fell silent. 

292 


THE HERMIT AGAIN 


Helen wanted to cry. She could not have ex- 
plained why, but the more she thought of the her- 
mit, the sorrier for him she felt. He had not ap- 
peared in the least sorry for himself. That visit to 
his house last winter, how queer and unreal it 
seemed in this bright June weather ! It had been 
altogether too real at the time. Now she wondered 
whether she had not dreamed it. But she could 
not have dreamed the animals, or that dreadful, 
breath-catching interview. Even Helenas imagina- 
tion quailed before the thought of having created 
that. Besides, Anne and Gay had been in it, too, 
as far in as Helen herself. And now the man they 
had gone to see was dead. Dead. It was incredi- 
ble that anybody could be dead in June. 

“ Did they find the money ? Grace asked. 

What money ? 

The hermit’s, of course. Gay. Under the mat- 
tress.” 

He wouldn’t have kept any money under the 
mattress,” Gay chided. “ He wasn’t that kind. 
You’d know, if you had seen him.” 

‘‘ I’ll bet he had a lot somewhere.” 

‘‘ I don’t know.” Helen was feeling a bit at odds 
with romance to-day. Maybe he didn’t have any 
money at all — more than enough to live the way 
he did, I mean.” 

‘‘ Don’t you believe it,” cried Grace. “ Hermits 
293 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


always have money. I wonder who^ll get it, if he 
really didn’t have any ^ folks,’ as Judith says.” 

** I don’t see that it matters to us who gets it,” 
Gay asserted, as long as he didn’t turn out to be 
Judith’s great-uncle.” 


294 


CHAPTER XVII 


JUDITH CHOOSES 

^*Dear Miss French/' said the note in Judith's 
hand. Will you do me the honor to call upon 
me this afternoon ? The matter I wish to discuss 
with you compels me to ask your indulgence to 
this extent. Otherwise I should be giving myself 
the pleasure of calling upon you. Faithfully, 
Charles Lathrop." 

John had delivered the letter at the door of the 
little house on Oak Street. John had handed it 
in with his most impressive manner. For the 
matter of that, John never for a moment appeared 
to forget that he was Mr. Lathrop's servant and 
that Mr. Lathrop was — Mr. Lathrop. Explanations 
were superfluous ; Mr. Lathrop required none. 

John's air was quite wasted, so far as Judith was 
concerned. Judith had a way of looking on all 
human beings as folks " without heed to their 
relationships. But the letter just for a moment 
frightened her. What did that flne scholarly 
handwriting cover ? Don ? It can't be anything 
about Don," she thought to herself. “ Don isn't 
295 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 

the kind to get into scrapes, and Mr. Lathrop isn^t 
the kind to come to me about them, either. He’d 
go to Jack, if he couldn’t fix a thing up with 
Don.” 

She hid the letter in her dress. Mother French 
should not know of its arrival yet, not until Judith 
had seen Mr. Lathrop and fathomed the mystery. 
Was not Mother French likely to be the very 
reason why Mr. Lathrop had asked her to come to 
see him ? Nobody could talk over anything in a 
house the size of this one without confiding in all 
its inmates. But what of a private nature could Mr. 
Lathrop have to say to Judith French ? Nothing 
bad. Judith’s common sense had disposed of her 
momentary panic about Don. She both liked and 
trusted Mr. Lathrop. Unlike the other girls, she 
had never been afraid of him. Perhaps it was 
something connected with Anne. But Anne was 
happy now, happy and content. Well, well, she 
would soon find out. 

** I guess it won’t do me any good to worry,” 
Judith said. ‘‘I couldn’t think out by myself 
what Mr. Lathrop wants to see me for, not if I 
thought from now till Doomsday, and I’d be wast- 
ing a lot of good time.” 

She finished her morning’s work, went up to 
school for a couple of recitations, and, coming 
home, prepared dinner with her usual deft despatch. 

296 


JUDITH CHOOSES 

After dinner she rolled out and cooked a “ batch 
of doughnuts, settled Dick ” for his nap, found a 
pattern Mrs. French wanted, and helped Nick 
establish himself with a box of colored clays Jack 
had brought him for modeling. 

“ I'm going out a little while now, mother." 

** By all means, dear. Stay as long as you like. 
I am afraid you do not get out enough." 

Judith laughed. I get out a plenty." 

“ You must not feel tied to my apron strings." 

That's how I like to feel. But I don't. So 
you needn't worry. Good-bye, mother." 

‘‘ Good-bye, daughter." 

It was exactly, Judith reflected as she skipped 
down the path between the blossoming syringas, 
as though they two were really mother and daugh- 
ter. She could never get quite used to the happi- 
ness of it. Always the joy startled her anew, as 
with the freshness and wonder of a miracle. 

They've been awful good to me," she thought. 

Mother French and my fifth cousins. I never 
s'posed I'd be so happy as I am this minute." 

At Mr. Lathrop's John admitted her to the 
library. Anne's grandfather rose gravely and 
courteously from his desk to greet her. 

I am very grateful to you. Miss Judith." He 
placed a chair for the girl with that inimitable 
manner which Helen loved. 

297 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 

Judith took it and smiled up at him frankly. 

Seems to me that’s what I ought to do, if you 
want to see me — come here. Don’s doing all right, 
isn’t he? ” 

** Finely. Don is a good chauffeur.” 

I thought it couldn’t be about Don.” 

‘‘The business matter about which I wish to 
talk with you, Miss Judith, is nothing which you 
could by any possibility imagine. I may say I 
was greatly astonished to learn it myself — pleas- 
antly astonished. I trust it will be equally pleas- 
ant news to you.” 

The blue-gray eyes under the slanting lids were 
regarding the girl with a very kindly smile. 

“ I think you had no acquaintance, until after it 
was perpetrated, with the expedition my grand- 
daughter and several of her friends undertook last 
February to interview Mr. Marcus French.” 

“ The hermit? ” Judith questioned. “ No, they 
didn’t tell me beforehand. They went to find me 
some folks.” 

“ So Anne informs me. I may say that at the 
time I deeply deplored the incident. I saw in it 
only the unnecessary baiting of a proud and sensi- 
tive man who had sought to withdraw himself 
from the world’s gaze. Now I perceive that, much 
as Marcus French resented the intrusion on the 
occasion of its occurrence, nevertheless it furnished 
298 


JUDITH CHOOSES 

him with food for thought, and gave his imagina- 
tion something other than the past to brood upon. 
This could not but have been a boon to him. 
Knowing the man as I did more than twenty years 
ago, I rejoice that before he died he gained at least 
one interest in the world from which he had chosen 
to absent himself. You are aware, are you not. 
Miss French, that the man I am speaking of is 
now dead ? ” 

“ I heard about it,^^ Judith said briefly. Why, 
she wondered, was Anne^s grandfather talking to 
her of the hermit ? 

** Though he permitted no intercourse, he dis- 
closed through his will that our former friendship 
was not forgotten by him. That document names 
me as one of the executors of its provisions. 
Coexecutor with me is a cousin for whom Marcus 
French once cherished an ardent affection. You 
follow me ? ** 

think so, sir.^^ Judith’s face was puzzled. 
** But I don’t see what it has to do with me.” 

“ I am coming to that, and I warn you to be 
prepared for a surprise. Marcus French was in 
many ways a strange man, eccentric from his 
youth. The property he left is not, as fortunes 
are to-day rated, very considerable, but it is more 
than a competence. He has bequeathed it entirely 
to you.” 


299 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


Judith stared, uncomprehending. 

Mr. Lathrop repeated his statement, amplifying 
and explaining. 

There must be some mistake,^’ Judith said at 
last. He couldn't have meant me, sir. There's 
another Judith French somewhere.” 

The will describes the beneficiary as a resident 
of Saybrook. Moreover, it succinctly details the 
interview of last February to which we have 
already referred. Permit me to read you the 
document.” 

Mr. Lathrop picked up a shbaf of typewritten 
papers from the desk and began to read. Judith 
listened, the words whirling giddily through her 
brain. Senseless though many of them were to 
the girl, there was no missing their drift, no 
juggling with the astounding meaning of that 
sentence, I do hereby devise and bequeath to the 

said Judith French ” No, that Judith French 

was too plainly indicated for mistake. 

Judith blinked. ‘'He means me all right. I 
see that. What I don't understand yet is why a 
man who never saw me should want to leave his 
money to me.” 

“ I cannot perfectly enlighten you. My own 
understanding of the situation amounts in the 
final analysis to mere conjecture. A note scribbled 
by hand on the back of the will says simply, ‘ I 
300 



( ( 


HE couldn’t have MEANT ME, SIR 




JUDITH CHOOSES 

should like to see what the girl will do with her- 
self and the money/ 

Judith waited with questioning eyes. 

“ Being possessed of some property/^ said Mr. 
Lathrop, Marcus French must necessarily indicate 
what he wished done with that property after his 
death. Two alternatives presented themselves to 
the man who made this will. He might leave his 
property to institutions, charitable or educational, 
or he might bequeath it to an individual. For the 
first course the man I once knew would have had 
scant liking. He was intensely personal in all his 
dealings. Instinct and habit would therefore in- 
cline him to pursue the second course. But here 
an obstacle presented itself. This cousin, of whom 
I previously spoke, his sole surviving relative, is 
a woman of large property. Personally I am in- 
clined to think that before my granddaughter and 
her friends acquainted him with your name, he 
probably intended to mention only this cousin in 
his will, provided he had heretofore given the 
matter any serious thought. The Maywood at- 
torney who last month drew up this will (tapping 
the document) “ informs me that he had executed 
no previous commission of the kind for my old 
friend. Indeed, until after Marcus Frenches death, 
he was unaware of the identity of the client who 
had consulted him in his office. Your name. Miss 
301 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


French, caught in a memory which for twenty 
years had been fed no fresh fuel from the world 
of living men. It is not hard to picture the result. 
The fires of imagination, which used to blaze 
high in him, burned fiercely, as I take it, around 
that name which was also his name. When a 
man^s imagination is involved, he will do 
strange things. Anne and her friends had told 
him something of your life. If I recollect 
Anne’s story rightly, they had even acquainted 
him with the fact that they were in search of a 
great-uncle. Surely your fancy is as fit as mine, 
Miss Judith, to cope with the emotions which 
moved Marcus French. In either case, it is pure 
fancy. But permit me to say that it is a great 
pleasure to me to have this occasion to exercise 
mine.” 

Judith perceived that Mr. Lathrop meant he 
was glad of the provisions of the will. “ Thank 
you,” she said gravely. All the twinkle was 
brushed out of her. She struggled to arrange her 
thoughts in recognizable order. 

‘‘Wasn’t there some kind of — of conditions, 
sir ? ” 

“ You are to come into absolute control of the 
property on your twenty-first birthday. Before 
that all reasonable requests for expenditure are to 
be honored by the estate, subject to the approval 
302 


JUDITH CHOOSES 

of the executors. May I be permitted to ask your 
age ? ” 

“ Eighteen,” said Judith. “ I'm older than the 
other girls. I thought you read something about 
a school.” Her mind groped through the fog of 
undigested words. 

Stanton Hall,” Mr. Lathrop explained, ** is one 
of the few boarding-schools which, as I am in- 
formed, has held to its standards through a long 
and honorable life. Marcus French's mother was 
educated at Stanton Hall. I once had thoughts of 
sending Anne there. Beyond the stipulation of 
immediate attendance for at least two years at 
Stanton Hall, a stipulation which is made obliga- 
tory, you are left free to follow your inclinations 
for the next three years, subject to the approval of 
the executors of the estate.” 

Now that facts emerged from the mist, Judith's 
head was clear. “ If I could not go to that school, 
would I get the money ? ” 

** The condition is explicit,” said Mr. Lathrop. 

Should you fail to comply with it for any reason 
save that of physical disability, or should you per- 
sist in a course of action disapproved by the ex- 
ecutors herein named,” he tapped the paper, the 
property goes to the cousin I have mentioned.” 
Mr. Lathrop bowed to the girl. ** I anticipate no 
trouble on that score.” 


303 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 

I thought that was the way you read it, but I 
wanted to be sure. She’ll have to have the money, 
Mr. Lathrop — that cousin will.” 

“ My dear Miss Judith, I trust I do not under- 
stand you.” 

“ I couldn’t possibly take it, sir. I couldn’t 
leave my folks.” 

The eyes of the courtly gentleman and of the 
freckled girl met squarely. The twinkle was 
struggling to reassert itself in Judith’s. 

“ It doesn’t really matter, Mr. Lathrop,” she 
said earnestly. I couldn’t be any happier, not 
if I had a million dollars. I’d rather have the 
folks than the dollars, anyway. Not but what I’m 
real grateful to him. It’ll be something to think 
about all my life, that a man wanted to leave me 
his money. Why, it makes me feel as though he 
had sort of belonged to me, as though he’d been a 
great-uncle, the way the girls said. I wish he was 
alive, so I could think up something to do for 
him. Not to bother him, you know. I wouldn’t 
bother him for the world. I wouldn’t try to see 
him. I’d just — well, I’d send him jellies and jams 
and never let him know who did it. I’d find 
something to do.” In her earnestness Judith laid 
her hand on Mr. Lathrop’s knee. You know it 
isn’t that I’m not grateful, sir, that I can’t take his 
money. You do know it, don’t you, Mr. Lathrop ? ” 
304 


JUDITH CHOOSES 

His hand closed over the girFs. “ Yes, Miss 
Judith, I know it. But are you quite sure that 
you cannot comply with the condition ? ” 

** I couldn^t be any surer.’^ 

** Stanton Hall is a beautiful place. The women 
at its head are true gentlewomen.” 

‘‘If it was paradise, I couldnT go,” she said. 

Mr. Lathrop mused a moment. “ I cannot ac- 
cept your present answer as final. Think it over, 
talk with your cousins, with any one in whose 
opinion you have confidence. Later we will speak 
again of this matter.” 

He led her to the door and bowed her down the 
steps. Then he returned to the study and locked 
up the copy of Marcus Frenches will from which 
he had read to Judith. “ I trust,” he said to himself, 
“that Miss Judith French will permit me to en- 
roll myself among her friends. Life membership 
in that girFs good will would be worth a dozen 
short term intimacies. She shall suit herself 
about this money, take it or leave it, with her eyes 
open. I wonder whether they are open, by the 
way. Perhaps I would better consult Anne.” 

Judith walked home soberly. What she had 
heard, while it had not caused the needle of her 
allegiance to waver for a moment, nevertheless 
moved her deeply. Her thoughts busied them- 
selves with the strange man whom she had never 

305 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


seen but who had taken it into his head to leave 
her his money. In the light of Mr. Lathrop’s 
words she tried to think herself into some under- 
standing of the inside of that man’s head. An 
impossible task. Judith was too fundamentally 
unlike the hermit to be able to think as he thought, 
nor had she the kind of imagination which was 
Helen’s and which might have enabled her to com- 
prehend ways which were totally foreign to her 
own. But she had sympathy as wide as the world 
and where she could not understand she always 
found something to like. Now she liked the her- 
mit, queer and crabbed and unapproachable as he 
had been. She liked the fact that he had named 
her in his will. 

** There he was a-thinking and a-thinking about 
me, and I never knew it. Feels good to know he 
did it, though. Feels somehow as though I'd had 
folks all along like other girls. I never expected 
anybody to put my name in a will. I certain sure 
never thought of a thing like that happening to 
me.” 

Then she hurried, lest the boys’ supper be late. 
She did not think of the things she might have 
done with the money, had she not been treasurer 
of French, French & Company and therefore re- 
sponsible to stay in Saybrook and put through the 
undertaking to which she had set her hand. A 
306 


JUDITH CHOOSES 

fact was a fact. It always closed to Judith^s mind 
the road of conjecture. What was the use of in- 
quiring whether or not the traveling was good on 
some other road, unless you had a chance to go 
that way ? It never occurred to Judith that she 
might accept the condition of the will and pay 
some one to take her place in Saybrook. Had it 
occurred to her, she would have laughed. What, 
for dollars give up her very own family, that she 
had just found after a lifetime of loneliness ? Had 
you suggested such a thing, Judith would have 
told you there wasn^t money enough in the world 
to buy from her these next two years. 

The twinkle was back in its familiar place when 
she reached Oak Street and swiftly began getting 
supper. Jack, swinging into the kitchen at top 
speed, saw it and substituted other words for those 
on the tip of his tongue. 

“ Joke, Judith I On you.” 

On me?” 

“ About you.” 

What is it?” 

But Jack's head was already in the wash basin. 

Tell you at supper,” he gurgled. ** It's a good 
one, too.” 

What's the joke?” Don asked five minutes 
later when the circle around the snowy cloth was 
complete. Jack said he had a joke on Ju.” 

307 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


Sure I have/^ Jack turned on Judith. 

Heard it on the street to-night. Two fellows 
congratulated me on having you for a cousin be- 
fore I had time to get home.” 

“ ThaVs all right,” said Pat, but what did they 
know about it? ” 

Thought it was pretty fine to have an heiress 
in the family.” Jack^s dark eyes were mischiev- 
ous. 

Heiress 1 ” grunted Don. ‘‘ Who^s the heiress ? ” 
“ Sitting in Cousin Ju^s chair,” said Jack. IPs 
all over town that old French has left her his 
money. I thought the fellows were kidding at 
first, but they said no, they^d heard it straight 
enough. Somebody^s been stuffing this town for 
fair. Didn’t break it to you very gently, did I, 
Ju ? Sorry. Hand’s new at the business.” 

I’d heard it before,” said Judith. 

** Seems to me you take it pretty easy,” Jack 
chafied. What’d he leave you, a cool million, or 
was it three ? ” 

“ I never thought to ask.” 

If that isn’t just like a girl ! Up in the clouds, 
planning a new hat, I suppose. Who told you ? ” 

Mr. Lathrop.” 

Mr. Lathrop ? You don’t mean The 

thing isnH true ! ” 

Judith smiled into the boy’s incredulous face. 

308 


JUDITH CHOOSES 

Yes, it^s true. Mr. Lathrop read me the will. 
There isnT a tremendous lot of money, — * more 
than a competence,’ he said. I ” 

But Judith’s words were drowned in a shout 
from the boys. 

Hurrah ! ” 

Good for you ! ” 

‘‘ Say, Cousin Ju, that’s great ! ’’ 

“ What made him do it ? ” 

Didn’t know you knew the gentleman.” 

Honest, is it really so ? ” 

Judith beamed. There was a condition I 
didn’t like, so I’m not going to get the money, but 
I think it was nice of him.” 

** You’re not going to get the money ! What 
was the condition ? ” 

I’d have to go away to a school for two years,” 
said Judith simply. 

Well, why not? ” 

Because I don’t want to.” 

Jack’s eyes bored for a minute into hers. ** You 
mean you’d have to clear out and leave this ? ” 
The jerk of his head indicated the room where 
they sat. 

That’s about it.” 

Jack rose from his seat. Then I’m going this 
minute to tell Mr. Lathrop you have changed your 
mind.” 


309 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


‘‘ But I haven^t.’^ 

** Well, I have for you. We all have. Is there 
anybody in this room who wants Cousin Judith to 
let a ‘ competence ^ slip through her fingers in 
order to stay here and run our affairs for us ? ” 

^‘They^re my affairs just as much as yours, 
Judith put in, but her voice was lost in the din of 
denial, i 

** My dear,*^ said gentle Mrs. French, we could 
not let you make such a sacrifice for us.” 

Judith’s gray eyes swept the circle. ‘*You 
don’t understand. It isn’t a sacrifice.” 

** That is very noble of you, dear ” 

Judith was guilty of interrupting. “It isn’t 
noble ! ” she cried. “ I never heard there was 
anything noble about doing what you just plain 
wanted to do.” 

But Jack was making for the door. 

“ Where are you going ? ” 

“ To see Mr. Lathrop.” 

“ Don’t ! Not yet. Let me talk to you.” 

“ You may talk to me all night. If you do. I’ll 
go in the morning.” 

“ You don’t understand,” said Judith. 

But in the morning Jack went. 


310 


CHAPTER XVIII 


HELEN TKIES HER HAND 

'‘The hermit has left Judith a whole lot of 
money and she won^t take it” 

Anne exploded this bomb in Helenas ears the 
minute dinner was over at Mr. Lathrop^s. 

" The hermit has — what? ” 

Anne repeated. 

Helen sank down weakly on the top step of her 
own porch. "What did he do that for?^’ she 
asked. Then the last part of the statement struck 
her and she leaped up as suddenly as she had sat 
down and seized Anne^s arm. " Won't take it I " 
she gasped. " Did you say she won't take it ? 
Why won't she take it ? " 

The gate clicked and Grace and Sally hurried 
up the path. 

" Is it true ? " Grace squealed, sending her 

voice ahead of her. " Is it really true that " 

" S-s-s-sh ! " Anne warned. 

" Then it is true ! " Grace cried. " There's no 
use s-shing. Father heard it on the street this 
afternoon. Oh, isn't it glorious, glorious, glorious I " 

311 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


She caught Sally in her arms and waltzed ecstat- 
ically to the foot of the steps. 

“ It^s exactly as though he^d really been the 
great-uncle ! Sally rejoiced, careless of antece- 
dents. ** I never heard of anything so exciting. Is 
Judith terribly rich, Anne?^^ 

On the happy exclamations Anne^s words 
fell chillingly. ‘^Judith says she can’t take the 
money.” 

Can’t — what ? ” Grace could not believe her 
ears. 

You don’t mean she’s refused it ! ” 

** That’s just what I do mean, Sally.” 

Grace broke into a splutter of questions. “ But 
how can she ? Wasn’t it left to her ? What makes 
her want to refuse it ? And, anyway, she can’t, 
can she ? When a man’s dead, don’t you have to 
take what he gives you ? ” 

Gay’s voice spoke over Grace’s shoulder. “ Go 
it, Gracie. You’ll find out a lot if you keep right 
on talking. What’s the row ? ” 

*‘The hermit has left Judith a pile of money 
and she’s refused it,” said Helen. 

Refused it ! ” 

The four wagged their heads solemnly. 

** But why ? ” Gay persisted. 

“ Why, Anne ? ” Helen asked. ** You hadn’t 
told me why.” 


312 


HELEN TRIES HER HAND 


The will says Judith must go away to school 
for two years and she won't leave her cousins." 

“ Those dreadful fifth cousins ! " Grace ex- 
claimed. ** I've always said I wished we had 
never found them." 

I don't," said Anne. ‘‘ I like them." 

“ So do I," Helen agreed. But — but She 

must take the money." 

“ Of course she must," Gay said briskly. 

Here's Stella. I thought she'd be along pretty 
soon. It's all so, Stella, what you telephoned, 
only more so. Is Mary on the way ? " 

“I saw her from the corner, but I simply 
couldn't wait for her to catch up. Tell me the 
‘ more so,' quick." 

They told her, and then they had to tell it all 
over again to Mary. 

Judith will change her mind," said Mary, 

when she has had time to think about it." 

Judith isn't the changeable sort," Estelle 
objected. She's stubborn as a mule about some 
things." 

Well, she's just got to change her mind 
about this," Grace cried. Let's go and talk to 
her." 

Hold on. Grade I " Gay caught the arm that 
carried the blue bracelet. 

Grace whirled on her. “ Don't you think we 

313 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


have anything to say about whether or not Judith 
takes the money? She wouldn’t have had the 
chance to refuse it if it hadn’t been for us. We 
told the hermit about her. That’s how he found 
her out. I don’t think Judith had any right to 
refuse that money without consulting us. It’s our 
business almost as much as hers.” 

He didn’t leave it to us,” said Gay. But I’m 
not against talking to Judith. All I wanted to 
say was that she’s probably talking a blue streak 
to-night as it is.” 

“That is so,” Mary agreed. “Those French 
boys will have something to say. I don’t believe 
Jack French will let her refuse it.” 

“ He’d better not ! ” flashed belligerent Grace. 

“ Gay wants us to wait till to-morrow,” said Es- 
telle, “ and I think Gay’s right.” 

“ I hate putting things off till to-morrow,” Sally 
sighed. 

“ So do I, when it’s talking to Judith,” averred 
Grace. “ The thing might be all settled for keeps 
before we could see her, and settled wrong.” 

“ No,” said Anne. “ Grandfather told her to 
wait and talk with people. She must understand 
exactly what she was doing.” 

“ And to think,” cried Helen, whose mind had 
bridged the chasm of doubt to the joyful ground 
of Judith’s ultimate acceptance, “ to think that we 
314 


HELEN TRIES HER HAND 

did it, just as Grace says. Oh, isn't it wonder- 
ful I " 

We are rather marvelous," Gay acknowledged. 

It's a wonder to me that the town takes so little 
notice of us. Get Judith over here to-morrow 
afternoon, Nell, and if the French boys haven't 
turned her no inside out, till you can't tell it from 
yes, we'll try our hand." 

« Try I " Grace exclaimed. ** We'll do it, too." 

But even Grace acknowledged the following 
afternoon that F. O. C. had undertaken no easy 
task. In vain Gay cajoled and amused ; in vain 
Grace scolded and teased ; in vain Helen pleaded 
and Sally chattered and Estelle caressed and Mary 
argued. In vain Anne smiled. Judith was not 
to be moved. 

“ You'd have your fifth cousins just the same," 
Mary urged at last. 

^^Yes," said Helen. ^^Only you'd be away at 
school for two years the way my sister Phillis is. 
This house is her house and of course she always 
comes home for vacations and we write and she 
writes. You could do that. And then when the 
two years were up you could stay at home with 
Mrs. French always, if you wanted to." 

Think of all the nice things you could do for 
people with that money," Estelle besought. 

Think of those fifth cousins," Gay suggested 

315 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


adroitly. “ They’re splendid boys. I’ll bet if 
their father hadn’t died some of them would have 
gone to college. Think of all the things you could 
do for them.” 

I’ve thought of that now,” said Judith. ‘‘I 
didn’t at first. Money didn’t mean much to me. 
You see, I’d never had any. I didn’t know what 
it would do. It meant a lot to Jack. I could see 
that by the way he talked. But he won’t touch a 
cent of the hermit’s money. He won’t even take 
any of it as a loan. He won’t let me hire a woman 
to run the house while I’d be away at that school. 
He tells me I’m free. Free ! What do I want to 
be free for ? There is such a thing as being too 
free. Jack don’t know anything about it, but 
there is. Oh, he’ll let me call it home on Oak 
Street. They’ll be delighted to see me vacations, 
if I care to come. As though I didn’t know, and 
he didn’t know that I know, that some woman has 
got to run that Oak Street house to keep them all 
going. The body they’d hire wouldn’t love it as 
I love it, and to pay her Don would have to leave 
school. Oh, I know.” 

Judith stopped abruptly, but nobody spoke. 

I know another thing, too. I know how bad 
Jack wanted to go to college. He was going to be 
a lawyer. He and his father had it all planned 
between them. Mother French told me that weeks 
316 


HELEN TRIES HER HAND 


ago. But Jack won^t listen to using some of the 
hermit’s money to go to college on. It’s my 
money, he says. He can’t borrow a girl’s money. 
It would be years before he could pay me back. 
' Let it be years I ’ I said to him. * What would I 
care how many years it might be ? ’ I tried to get 
at him by way of Don and Pat. He was as stiff- 
necked about them as he is about himself. What 
good would that money do me if I couldn’t do 
with it one thing I wanted to and if it lost me my 
folks, besides ? Tell me that.” 

Estelle slipped an arm around Judith’s waist. 
Anne’s was already in place, squeezing sympa- 
thetically. Grace camped on the rug at Judith’s 
feet, blinking rapidly, her elbows in Judith’s lap. 

** Jack needs a whipping,” Gay announced in 
tones that suggested she knew one who would like 
to administer it. 

Doesn’t he ! ” breathed Helen. 

*‘No,” Judith defended. ‘‘He’s just a cousin, 
that’s all — a fifth cousin. That kind of cousin 
ain’t like real folks. I thought they were. I 
know better now. They won’t let you do things 
for ’em the way your real folks would. They can’t 
help it. They’re — they’re fifth cousins. I said to 
Jack, ‘ If I’d been your sister now, born your real 

flesh-and-blood sister ’ He said to me, ‘ You’re 

the best sort in the world, Judith. I wouldn’t ask 

317 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 

for any better sister, but you're not my sister. And 
that’s the fact.' I’d been dreaming, you see. I've 
waked up now." 

When had anybody ever heard such a note in 
cheerful Judith's voice? A tear slid over Grace's 
eyelid and coursed down her cheek. Another 
followed. 

“ Why, Grade, you're crying ! " 

I'm not either, and if I am, it's because 
we found those fifth cousins. You all know I 
never wanted to find them." 

What I wish," said Judith, ^‘is that you'd 
never tried to find a great-uncle for me. But 
there, you were doing the best you knew how, and 
it was real kind of you." 

We don't seem to have done anything right," 
mourned Helen. 

It wouldn't have done any harm to see the 
hermit, if he hadn't left me the money," Judith 
explained. I can't take it and keep my folks 
and I guess I can't refuse it and keep 'em either. 
Seems if I lose out whatever I do. But, anyway, 
I'm not going to take pay for losing 'em." 

“ Does Jack know you won't take the money, 
unless he will promise to help spend it?" Anne 
questioned. 

I've told him times enough. He says I can't 
help taking it." 


318 


HELEN TRIES HER HAND 


F. O. C. surveyed each other in consternation. 
The situation presented a complete deadlock. 

“ Everything has come out just the way we 
wanted it to/^ mused Gay. We wanted money 
for Judith. She wanted a big family, all boys and 
a baby. WeVe found exactly what we set out to 
find and we're none of us happy. We must be 
hard to suit." 

“ How can you joke, Gay ? " 

** I'm not joking, Stella. I'm stating facts." 

Helen emerged from a brown study and sat up 
abruptly. Jack has just got to give in." 

Judith shook her head. You don't know the 
stuff that Jack's made of Let's not talk about it. 
Talking don't do any good. Is your mother home, 
Helen?" 

Helen jumped up hastily. “ Indeed she is. 
And she wants to see you." 

Judith turned on the threshold. ** I'm sorry 
I've made you all feel bad. There's just one thing 
I want to say and I want you to believe it, every 
one of you. I'm glad of what I've had this spring. 
I never had had any folks before, and you found 
me some. They were real folks all right, until 
yesterday. I know now what it feels like to have 
had folks, and I never expected to know that. I 
guess I'm a pretty lucky girl. So don't you feel 
bad. Just give me a little time to get used to 

319 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


things all over again. They make me sort of dizzy, 
they jump about so.’’ 

In the next room, on a low seat at Mrs. Thayer’s 
knee, Judith poured out her story. I thought 
those girls were going to get a jolt, didn’t I?” she 
finished. ** Well, it’s me got the worst jolt, and I 
wasn’t looking for it. Queer how quick you can 
get out o’ the habit of knowing what to do with a 
jolt. Here I was thinking nothing could upset me. 
I didn’t expect anything. Then what I didn’t 
expect happened and I — well, I thought there 
weren’t going to be any more jolts, I guess. I 
thought now I’d got folks I’d always keep ’em. 
There’s more than one way of losing your folks. 
Finding that out is about the worst jolt I ever had, 
but I’ll brace up. Jack’s too polite to say so, but 
I can see he thinks I’m a donkey-headed idiot not 
to jump at that money. Do you think so, Mrs. 
Thayer ? ” 

I think you are a very clear-headed girl, 
Judith,” said Helen’s mother. 

‘‘ Do you now ? I’d like Jack to hear that. It’s 
done me a lot of good to talk right out to you. 
Mother French ” Judith laughed a little. 

You see it’s like this. I talk to her and she sees 
things as I do. Then Jack talks to her and she 
thinks he must be right and it was selfish of her to 
feel the way I want her to. She’d like to think 
320 


HELEN TRIES HER HAND 


my way, but she feels she ought to think his way, 
and there you are. So I've stopped talking." 

Mrs. Thayer laid her hand on the two clasped 
on her knee. There is a great deal to be said for 
Jack's side of the argument, dear." 

I can't see it," said Judith. I've tried to." 

A great many girls would be glad of the chance 
to go to Stanton Hall." 

‘‘I know that," Judith said, “and I'd go in a 
minute if Jack would act with that money as 
though I belonged to the family. I'd hate to be 
gone so long from that little house on Oak Street 
— why, Mrs. Thayer, I just love it — but I guess I 
could stand it, if I knew Jack was going to school, 
too, and the boys were having a good chance. But 
if I had to be thinking all the time, ^ Because I'm 
here there aren't any Frenches on Oak Street,' or 
‘ Because I'm here, Don’s had to give up school,' 
I couldn't be happy a minute I " 

“ What about your own chance, Judith ? Your 
own education ? " 

Judith smiled straight into Mrs. Thayer's face. 
“ That's Mother French. Maybe she isn't a very 
smart woman. She's not shrewd or a manager. 
She couldn't keep that house running if she tried. 
She's pretty and sweet and you want to take care 
of her. Oh, I know how the boys feel. I want to 
take care of her, too. She had an education. The 
321 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


best kind. She talks better than a book. And 
her voice — I’d rather hear it than singing. I talk 
better since Vve lived with her. I’ll talk better 
still if I live with her longer. She^s my education, 
Mother French is, and my chance. A person 
couldn^t be uneducated and live with her. A girl 
like me needs her kind of teaching more than the 
school kind. But 1^11 go to that school — IVe told 
Jack I’ll go — if he’ll play the folks game square. 
And he won’t.” 

** What could I say ? ” Mrs. Thayer asked Helen 
wistfully when Judith had gone. 

** I hate Jack I ” blazed Helen. 

** Jack is thinking of his self-respect,” said her 
mother. There is a point beyond which self- 
respect ceases to be a virtue.” 

Helen did not entirely understand, but the 
words sounded well. She stored them in her 
memory. Already she knew of a way to use 

them, if There was no if. Courage had 

nothing to do with the matter. Had she not 
made up her mind while the girls were talking ? 

Standing in the window, she saw Mr. Lathrop’s 
new car sweep in through the gates of the drive- 
way across the street. Mr. Lathrop himself was 
in the tonneau. Helen gave herself no time to 
think. 

‘‘ I want to speak to Don a minute, mother.” 

322 


HELEN TRIES HER HAND 


Her heart was pounding as she ran down the 
path to the street. At the gate she waited seconds 
or hours ; it might have been the one, but it 
seemed interminably like the other, before Don 
rounded the corner of the big brick house. Helen 
hailed him and the boy darted across to her. 

Tell your brother Jack I want to see him to- 
night.^’ 

Only then, when the thing was irrevocably 
done, did she tell her mother. 

“ I fear it will do little good, daughter.” 

‘‘ You talk to him, mother.” 

Mrs. Thayer shook her head. He will take it 
better from you, Nell.” 

I was the one that first heard of him,” Helen 
explained. If it hadn't been for that Racefield 
girl talking to me at the game, Judith might never 
have found she had any fifth cousins. It makes 
me feel responsible.” 

Her mother kissed her. . ** Success to you, little 
daughter. Now suppose we get supper.” 

If it hadn’t been for getting supper and eating 
it, helping the twins undress and telling their bed- 
time story, Helen hardly knew how she could 
have lived through the next hours. As it was, 
she scarcely tasted the food on her plate and her 
words mixed themselves up so peculiarly that Ted 
took her sharply to task. 

323 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


** Huh I ThaVs a funny story you^re tollin’ us I ” 

** What made her want to eat boys ? ’’ Tess ques- 
tioned. 

Folks that eats folks is ca-ca ” 

“ Cabinals,” Tess prompted. 

** Did I say she wanted to eat boys ? ” Helen 
queried. ** I didn’t mean it, twinnies. I meant 
she wanted to eat rolls and strawberries and splen- 
did things like those and every time she started to 
take a bite, the rose or the strawberry or whatever 
it was would turn to money right in her fingers. 
You can’t eat money, you know, and the poor 
princess was so hungry. You can’t think how 
hungry she was.” 

“Couldn’t she go to the store and buy more 
berries ? ” demanded practical Tess. 

“ Yes, but as sure as she took the basket in her 
hand and lifted a berry to her lips it turned to 
money and she had to put it down again.” 

“ Did it, if she was awful quick ? ” Ted ques- 
tioned. 

“ It did, no matter how quick she was.” 

“ If she pretended she wasn’t goin’ to eat it, just 
to smell of it,” Tess suggested, “ an’ then popped 
it in her mouth, did it turn into money then ? ” 

“ Whatever she did, it turned into money.” 

Tess looked worried. “ If she couldn’t get any- 
thin’ to eat, she’d starve.” 

324 


HELEN TRIES HER HAND 


“ That is what she^s afraid of I mean, it 

worried her terribly. So she began trying every- 
thing she came to that people ever eat, you know, 
even crusts of bread without any butter on them.’' 

Helen chose her words carefully now. You had 
to be careful when you told stories to the twins. 
The carefulness helped ; it took her attention from 
the ordeal before her. You cannot make up stories 
correctly out loud and at the same time frame 
persuasive sentences inside your mind. The per- 
suasive sentences had made Helen feel a little sick. 
What if, after all, they should not persuade ? The 
story lightened a trifle the weight that burdened 
her chest. 

And then Jack came, smiling, inscrutable, easy. 
The minute Helen saw his face her heart sank 
down, down, down, into the very toes of her slip- 
pers. If he hadn’t smiled, she might have felt less 
futile as she opened her lips. The smile gilded, as 
it were, his stubbornness. It seemed to put him 
immeasurably beyond the reach of the most be- 
guiling of those persuasive sentences that she had 
so carefully manufactured. The smile and the 
sense of her own impotence set Helen’s temper 
rising. She forgot the persuasive sentences, which 
was perhaps the best thing she could have done. 

I want to talk to you about Judith,” she said 
bluntly. 

325 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


“ I thought so. Fire away, if you want to. But 
it won^t do any good.*^ 

“ You mean youVe made up your mind not to let 
it do any good.’^ 

My mind^s made up. Yes, I mean that.^' 

** Why do you talk about your mind ? she 
flashed at him. ** Haven^t the rest of your family 
minds, too ? 

** We think alike on this subject.^^ 

** YouVe made them agree with you.^’ 

** Oh, come now. Suppose you were in our 
shoes.^^ 

** Suppose mother and Phillis and Floyd and 
the twins and I were you and your mother and the 
boys ? ” 

** Just that.” 

** And a cousin of ours wanted to send us to col- 
lege?” 

** Put it that way, if you like.” 

Helen triumphed. ThaPs the way it is now. 
Cousin Anne is sending Floyd to college and my 
sister Phillis to art school.” 

Jack^s dark face grew no whit less pleasant. 
** You think youVe scored, don’t you ? How old 
is this Cousin Anne? ” 

'' I don’t exactly know. She and mother were 
girls together.” 

“ Just so.” 


326 


HELEN TRIES HER HAND 


Helen detested the sound of that just so. It was 
so obstinately unpersuaded. 

Jack continued. She isn^t a girl now. That^s 
the point. She’s a woman who has a right to do 
what she likes with her money. By the way, what 
degree of cousinship is it ? ” 

“ Mother’s first cousin.” 

And Judith is our fifth by courtesy.” 

I don’t see that that makes any difierence.” 
The words were weak, and Helen knew it. 

Perhaps not. The other does, though. If my 
Cousin Judith was like your Cousin Anne I’d bor- 
row from her quicker’n lightning. As things are, 
I’d be a cad if I borrowed a cent.” 

** You’re a cad now,” said Helen. 

He stiffened. 

‘‘ You’re a cad to make her feel the way you do. 
There is a point beyond which self-respect ceases 
to be a virtue. I should think you’d be ashamed, 
perfectly ashamed of yourself, Jack French, after 
Judith’s been so happy settling the house and tak- 
ing care of you boys, to turn her out the way you’re 
doing I ” 

We’re not turning her out.” 

It was useless for Jack to try to stem the torrent 
of Helen’s words. I’d like to know what else 
you’re doing,” she stormed. It’s bad enough for 
a girl to lose her really truly own family before 

327 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


she’s old enough even to remember them and have 
to be brought up by an orphan asylum. It’s per- 
fectly cruel when she’s adopted a family and feels 
exactly as though it was her own family to wake 
up some day — that was the word Judith used — to 
wake up some day and find they’re not feeling the 
way she is at all. Judith says it’s not your fault. 
You’re fifth cousins. She’d thought fifth cousins 
were the same as real folks, but she’s found they’re 
not. It made me feel like a funeral to hear her, and 
to know it was my fault, because I — I told her about 
you. I wish I’d never seen you. Then she could 
have had the hermit’s money and enjoyed it, too.” 

She’ll enjoy it now,” said Jack. 

^*She won’t either. I don’t know that she’ll 
even take it. She says she isn’t going to accept 
pay for losing her ‘ folks.’ ” 

Talk,” said Jack. 

Helen’s eyes blazed. ‘‘ Now you’re nasty.” 

'' I beg your pardon. I only meant that in heat 
a person often says things she doesn’t stick to after- 
ward.” 

Judith sticks.” 

Yes,” said Jack, she does. But I can’t take 
her money.” 

“ No,” Helen shot back, “ you can’t give up your 
stubborn old way. You’re not worth even being 
Judith’s thirty-fifth cousin.” 

328 


HELEN TRIES HER HAND 


That's all right. I'm not saying I am. I'm 
only saying " 

Oh, dear," Helen cried, I'm sick of hearing 
you say it over and over that you can't — take — 
Judith's — money. Nobody is thinking about you. 
Who cares whether you go to college or not? It's 
Judith we care about. We want her to be happy. 
Go and talk to Mr. Lathrop if you don't believe 
me. Mr. Lathrop wants her to be happy, too. 
Nobody's interested in your old self-respect." 

In tears Helen sought her mother ten minutes 
later. 

I was horrid," she wailed, ** perfectly horrid, 
but I didn't cry till he'd gone — with his head in 
the air. Oh, I hate him I I got mad and I said 
just what came into my mind, and it wasn't a bit 
nice. He exasperated me so, mother. How could 
I ever have thought he was nice ! And he's 
simply adamant about Judith." 


329 


CHAPTER XIX 


all's well that ends well 

Helen woke the next morning to a gloomy 
world. Not physically. The sun shone, the leaves 
danced, the flowers smiled, but not for Helen. For 
the first moment, indeed, after her eyes opened 
sleepily on the new day she did not know it was 
dreary. Then remembrance rushed on her, blotting 
out sunny June. Helen groaned and clasping the 
pillow in both arms, buried her face in it. Under 
the pillow her hand encountered the damp crum- 
bled ball of last night's handkerchief. She had 
cried herself to sleep. She wished she could cry 
herself to sleep again. Not that she felt any de- 
sire to cry this morning ; she seemed for the mo- 
ment cried out. But she would like to go to sleep 
and wake up to a situation diflferent from that on 
which she had last closed her eyes. 

This being obviously out of the question, she 
rose slowly and dressed languidly. What was 
there to hurry about ? The day tasted ill in her 
mouth. It held out no saving possibilities. Its 
hours stretched, drab and tired and dull, ahead of 
her. She had failed. Her failure would not have 
330 


ALUS WELL THAT ENDS WELL 


mattered much, had there remained a chance for 
some one else to succeed. But who would try? 
And trying, who would fare more happily ? Per- 
haps if she had not lost her temper, if she had 
talked very quietly and gently, without any heat 
and feeling — “ But I can’t do that,” Helen thought. 

When I feel strongly about something, no mat- 
ter how hard I try to keep cool, I get excited. 
Mother’s right, though. It would be better if I 
kept cool. I’ll try — next time. Oh, I hope there 
will never be any next time as bad as this.” 

And then the beautiful persuasive sentences be- 
gan again in her head, only more beautiful, more 
persuasive. There were new sentences, wonderful 
words that could not fail to have brought Jack to 
terms if she had only thought of them. What was 
the use of thinking of them now when it was too 
late ? But here they came, storming Helen’s 
brain, the convincing things she might have said. 
Her mind raced round and round among them 
like a squirrel circling the bars of its revolving 
cage. They ran through the day monotonously ; 
through breakfast and between classes at school 
and after school, whirling in one glorious, tri- 
umphant, forever lost opportunity. 

They were whirling most exultantly near mid- 
afternoon. Nothing interfered with them. Helen 
was wandering in the yard ostensibly looking at 

331 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


peony buds. Swift feet beat on the path that led 
to the kitchen door, thudded across the grass, and 
reached her side. Arms went around her neck. 

“ How did you do it ? cried Judith^s voice. ** I 
didn’t think anybody could do it, and you — you’re 
a great girl, Helen Thayer. My, but I’m happy ! 
I didn’t think I’d ever be so happy again, and 
now — well, now I guess I never was so happy be- 
fore.” 

Words tumbled out of Helen’s mouth, words dis- 
arranged by her total inability to understand what 
Judith was saying. 

‘‘ Happy ! You don’t mean What has 

happened? Judith, tell me quick what has 

happened ! ” 

Judith nodded and laughed and capered, behav- 
ing altogether like a person who finds herself sup- 
plied with too few ways of expressing her feelings. 
“Don’t you know? You ought to. But maybe 
he hadn’t made up his mind when he left you. 
Jack goes slow, but he’s thorough. When he does 
a thing ” 

“ Jack!” 

“Told me this noon,” Judith beamed. “Ate 
his words like a man. Said he guessed he’d been 
trying so hard to stand up straight, he’d bent 
backwards. Said you told him to talk to Mr. 
Lathrop — — ” 


332 


ALLS WELL THAT ENDS WELL 


-‘Didn^t you?'^ 

** Yes, but — I thought he didn^t care about what 
I said/^ 

“ He talked with Mr. Lathrop this morning 
early. Then he thought a while. That’s Jack 
all over. At dinner he asked me if I could man- 
age to hold down my job as treasurer of French, 
French & Company with all the other things I 
was getting to do. I didn’t know what was com- 
ing, but I said I could. Then Jack said, *How 
about it, fellows ? Shall we let her ? ’ You ought 
to ’ve seen the boys. Bless ’em ! We’re going to 
keep on this summer just as we planned. That’s 
to prove to ourselves we don’t have to use Mr. 
Marcus French’s money to live on. It’s an extra. 
School for Jack and me both in the fall. He’s 
sure he can finish getting ready for college and 
run his job, too. He’s to write to-night and apply 
again to the place where he’d meant to go before 
his father died. We’ll have to hunt up a good 
woman to run the house while we’re both gone. 
Oh, Jack backed down handsomely, that’s just 
what he did.” 

Anne joined the two. ‘‘ I saw you,” she said, 
‘‘and you looked so — so glad, some way — I ran 
right over.” 

“ I am glad.” Judith’s smile almost buttoned 
333 


HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


behind her ears, it was so wide. ** IVe got my 
folks back again, Anne. And now I’m going to 
keep ’em forever ’n ever, amen. There’s a whole 
summer ahead of us. No use thinking about fall 
yet. A whole summer to make jelly and take 
care of my folks in. Next week I’ve got to go 
down to New York and see Mr. Marcus French’s 
cousin. She wants me to come. There was some- 
thing about it in the will, too. But what’s two 

days against Well, I’m not counting. I don’t 

want to know how many days there are. Let’s go 
in and tell your mother, Nell, and then find the 
other girls.” 

The three skipped joyfully across the sunny grass. 

It’s a great day, isn’t it?” cried Judith. ** A 
great day.” She lifted her face to the turquoise sky. 

“ It’s beautiful,” breathed Helen and Anne 
fervently. 

And I’m a lucky girl. But I never was 
luckier than when you made me the Secret.” The 
steadfast gray eyes twinkled happily on the two 
friends. Don’t things just come my way, 
though ? ” 


The Stories in this Series are : 

HELEN OVER-THE-WALL 
HELEN AND THE UNINVITED GUESTS 
HELEN AND THE FIND-OUT CLUB 
HELEN AND THE FIFTH COUSINS 


334 


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